New Delhi, Dec. 13 -- In March 1979, rumours that Jayaprakash Narayan was dead quickly spread across India. In Parliament, then Prime Minister Morarji Desai even expressed his condolences, triggering a wave of mourning in many state assemblies.

But the then Speaker of the Maharashtra Vidhan Bhavan, Shivraj Vishwanath Patil, refused to follow the information that was based on an official's report.

He temporarily adjourned the House and called the Jaslok Hospital doctors who were treating Narayan. They confirmed that the patient remained critically ill but had not died. Under Patil's leadership, Vidhan Bhavan was the only assembly to read out a resolution wishing a long life for Narayan, who died in Patna after seven months.

Shivraj Pati...