Congress veteran Makhan Lal Fotedar, who was a confidante of former prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, died in a hospital in Gurugram on Thursday, PTI reported. He was 85.

Fotedar entered politics with the help of India’s first prime minster, Jawaharlal Nehru, in the early 1950s. He gradually strengthened his position in the Congress to become one of its most powerful politicians, enjoying the trust of Indira Gandhi who had made him her political secretary in 1980. After her death, Fotedar served as the political secretary for three years in the Rajiv Gandhi government, before joining his Cabinet.

The 85-year-old was a member of the Congress Working Committee, the party’s highest decision-making body. He continued to be a permanent invitee to the committee till date.

“In his long and active political career spanning over five decades, Fotedar tirelessly fought for the rights of people and served them with utmost integrity,” Congress President Sonia Gandhi said after his death. “He was one of the guiding lights for the Congress party and has left behind a void which can never be filled.”

Fotedar was a former member of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly and had represented the Pahalgam constituency from 1967 to 1977. He was a two-time Rajya Sabha member and a former Union minister.