New Delhi | Congress leaders on Sunday condoled former external affairs minister K Natwar Singh's demise with party chief Mallikarjun Kharge hailing his profound contribution to India's diplomacy and external affairs.

Singh passed away on Saturday night after a prolonged illness, family sources said. He was 93.

He breathed his last at Medanta Hospital in Gurugram near Delhi, where he had been admitted for the past couple of weeks, they said.

"Our deepest condolences on the passing away of Former Union Minister, Shri K. Natwar Singh ji. An acclaimed intellectual and a Padma Bhushan recipient, he made a profound contribution to India's diplomacy and external affairs," Kharge said in a post on X.

"Our thoughts are with his family, friends and followers," he said.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "A hugely engaging political personality. A distinguished foreign service officer. A cultured man of letters and noted author with a few classics to his credit. A walking encyclopedia of the worlds of Nehru and Indira Gandhi. A delightful conversationalist, storyteller and ready wit."

"A man whose correspondence with varied men and women are the stuff of history. A wonderful and generous friend with his hospitality and his ever-sharp memory and his deep archive. Natwar Singh was all this and much more," Ramesh said.

"He has just passed away after leading a full and richly variegated life. He was truly someone who has left behind his 'footprints on the sands of time'," he said on X.

Singh was a career diplomat, who brought a wealth of experience in diplomacy to his political career and a prolific author on subjects ranging from the life of a maharaja to nuances of foreign affairs.

Singh, who served as the external affairs minister during the UPA-I period, had quit the Congress after his fallout with the party's top leadership over the "oil-for-food scam" came out in the open.