Bhola Singh, the BJP MP from Begusarai who died on Friday evening in New Delhi at the age of 79, was never shy about giving a piece of his mind — no matter who he was speaking about.

At a joint meeting of Janata Dal United and BJP MLAs during the NDA I government in Bihar, he told chief minister Nitish Kumar point blank that he (Nitish) could be a “good chief secretary, but never a successful chief minister” — leaving other legislators, and Nitish, stunned.

Bhola Singh made his resentment over legislators not being able to meet the chief minister public. “But that was Bhola babu. Never afraid of speaking his mind on what he thought was right,” said a senior BJP MLA.

After receiving news of Bhola Singh’s death, Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally went to pay tribute to the mortal remains of the veteran Bihar leader, who was known as the “Bhishma Pitamah of Begusarai”.

“Anguished by the demise of Lok Sabha MP from Begusarai, Shri Bhola Singh Ji. He will be remembered for his outstanding service to society and efforts towards the development of Bihar. My thoughts are with his family and supporters in this hour of grief,” Modi said in a tweet on Friday evening.

During the last two years, Bhola babu had aired his dissatisfaction over the functioning of the Modi government and had called it quits from electoral politics owing to failing health.

But his importance could be gauged by the fact that virtually every senior BJP leader was present at the Patna airport on Saturday when his body arrived. Nitish and other ministers had gathered in the Bihar Assembly building to pay their respects.

Bhola Singh remained a rebel by heart — parties did not matter to him. In his long career as a lawmaker, starting from 1967 during which he became MLA eight times and Lok Sabha MP twice, the tag of parties kept changing. In 1967, he won for the first time as an Independent from Begusarai, backed by the Left. In 1972, he became an MLA on a CPI ticket. Five years later, he won again, this time from the Congress. In the Chandrasekhar Singh government in Bihar, Bhola Singh became junior minister of home in 1984 and also held the education portfolio, albeit briefly. He had a dry spell after 1990 and joined the BJP in 2000 to become an MLA again and also in 2005, before winning from the Nawada parliamentary seat in 2009 and from Begusarai in 2014. During the NDA-I rule in Bihar, he had a stint as urban development minister between 2008 and 2009.

A powerful orator, Bhola babu enjoyed respect cutting across party lines. During 2003-2008, he was deputy speaker of the Bihar Assembly and enjoyed the confidence of then chief minister Rabri Devi. “The then government felt comfortable when Bhola babu sat on the chair of the Speaker in the absence of then Speaker Sadanand Singh,” recalled an RJD leader.

Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Tejashwi Prasad Yadav remarked in his tweet paying homage to the departed MP that Bhola babu had a special place in Bihar politics and was respected by all.

After 2014 the ageing leader found himself more and more isolated.