Sudivya Kumar Sonu, a senior leader of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM, the ruling regional party in India's eastern Jharkhand state) and a cabinet minister holding portfolios spanning higher education, urban development, tourism, and sports, died of cardiac arrest on Sunday at the age of 56. A legislator from Giridih first elected in 2019 and a close ally of Chief Minister Hemant Soren, he had returned just days earlier from a government delegation visit to Karnataka aimed at improving the state's tourism infrastructure. The JMM described his death as an "irreparable loss," and condolences poured in from leaders across the political spectrum, including opposition BJP officials and former chief ministers.