- Jana Krishnamurthi
K. Jana Krishnamurthi (
May 24 ,1928 ndashSeptember 25 ,2007 ) was anIndia n political leader who rose to be the President of theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2001. A former UnionLaw Minister and a member of theParliament of India , Jana was the first Tamilian to head a national party in India afterKamaraj .Early life
Jana Krishnamurthi was born in
Madurai in theSouth India n state ofTamil Nadu . An alumnus of the Chennai Law College, he gave up his successful law practice in Madurai in the year 1965. He was persuaded by M.S.Golwalkar , the then chief of the RSS, to enter politics.Political career
An active member of the
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) from 1940, Jana took over as the General Secretary of theBharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) in Tamil Nadu at the instance of Atal Behari Vajpayee. He played an active part in building an equity for the relatively unknown BJS in South India.In 1975 when emergency was declared, he was the secretary of the resistance movement in Tamil Nadu. In 1977 when BJS merged with the
Janata Party , he became the General Secretary of that party's Tamil Nadu unit. In 1980, he helped found theBharathiya Janata Party (BJP) along withAtal Bihari Vajpayee ,Lal Krishna Advani , SS Bhandari, Kushabhau Thakre and Jaganatha Rao Joshi. He was the founder National Secretary. In 1983 became one of the General Secretaries and from 1985 he was the Vice-President of the Party.From 1980 to 1990, he helped the BJP expand in the four Southern states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
In 1993 he moved to
Delhi at the request of L. K. Advani and set up the Intellectual Cells of the BJP on Economic, Defence and Foreign Affairs. From 1995 onwards he was in charge of the BJP Head Quarters. He also served as the Spokesperson of the Party. In 1998, Krishnamurthi contested theLok Sabha election from South Chennai and lost by a very small margin.OnMarch 14 ,2001 he took over as the President of the BJP fromBangaru Laxman . He held office until June 2002.Krishnamurthi then became the Union Law Minister in the cabinet of
Atal Bihari Vajpayee . He stepped down in a year, due to ill health. He was aRajya Sabha Member of Parliament from the State ofGujarat and an active member of the Parliament Standing Committees on External Affairs and Defence. He was also the Chairman of the Petitions Committee. His tenure will be remembered for his frank and forthright report on Petrol Adulteration.Death
Jana Krishnamurthi breathed his last on 25th September 2007. He succumbed to a cardio-respiratory arrest at a private hospital in Chennai. He is survived by his wife, 2 sons and 3 daughters.
References
* [http://www.janaji.com Janaji.com]
* [http://www.bjp.org/leader/JanaBio-data.htm Life Sketch of Jana Krishnamurthi]
* [http://www.rediff.com/news/2001/nov/10inter.htm Rediff Interview]
* [http://rajyasabha.gov.in/book2/reports/petition/123rdreport.htm Report on Petrol Adulteration]
* [http://www.politicsbharat.com/clean_politician.php India's Cleanest Politician]ee also
*
Hindu nationalist parties External links
* [http://164.100.24.167:8080/members/website/Mainweb.asp?mpcode=1882 Profile on Rajya Sabha website]
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