Bhairon Singh Shekhawat
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Bhairon Singh Shekhawat (born October 23, 1923) is the Vice-President of India. He has served in that position since August 2002, when he was elected to a five-year term by the electoral college following the death of Krishan Kant. Shekhawat was a member of the National Democratic Alliance at the time of election. He has served as the Chief Minister of Rajasthan state three times, from 1977 to 1980, 1990 to 1992 and 1993 to 1998. He is the ex-officio chairman of the Rajya Sabha.
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[edit] Personal life
His father's name was Shri Devi Singh Shekhawat and his mother was Shrimati Banne Kanwar. He was born in the village of Khachariawas, in the district of Sikar in Rajasthan. He is married to Shrimati Suraj Kanwar and they have one daughter Shrimati Ratan Kanwar who married to Rathore Shri Narpat Singh Rajvi, who is a minister in Rajasthan. They have three offsprings, daughter Mumal Rajvi, sons Vickramaditya Singh Rajvi and Abhimanyu Singh Rajvi.
Bhairon Singh Shekhawat completed high school but was unable to complete college due to his father's untimely death. He had to support his family. He worked as a farmer and an officer sub-inspector in the police before turning to politics.
His website lists his favorite pastimes as reading, interacting with people, and extensively touring the State and other parts of the country.
[edit] Positions Held:
1952-72 Member, Rajasthan Legislative Assembly & Leader of Opposition
1974-77 Member, Rajya Sabha (Madhya Pradesh)
1977-2002 Member, Rajasthan Legislative Assembly
22 June 1977 - 16 February 1980 Chief Minister of Rajasthan
1980-90 Leader of the Opposition, Rajasthan Legislative Assembly
4 March 1990 - 15 December 1992 Chief Minister of Rajasthan (second term)
4 December 1993 - 29 November 1998 Chief Minister of Rajasthan (third term)
December 1998 - August 2002 Leader of the Opposition, Rajasthan Legislative Assembly
19 August 2002 onwards Vice-President of India and ex officio Chairman of Rajya Sabha narendra Singh shekhawat from jaipur had given him ticket for president's post..........
[edit] Political Life
Bhairon Singh Shekhawat is one of the oldest anti-Congress leaders alive in India. Till 1977, the Indian National Congress won elections in majority of the states in India. Shekhawat always posed to be a threat to the Congress in Rajasthan. In the year 1967 elections, the Bhartiya Jan Sangha (Shekhawat's Party) and the Swatantra Party alliance reached near majority but couldn't form a government. But in the janta wave in the year 1977, Shekhawat's party emerged victorious. After the split in the year 1980, Shekhawat decided to join the Bhartiya Janta Party with a host of his supporters. The Congress won the 1980 elections due to the split of opposition votes. During the Indira wave in 1984, again BJP lost election heavily. The Congress managed to win 114 out of the 200 seats in Rajasthan. The opposition was divided, otherwise Shekhawat could have made a history. But he did make history later on, in the 1989 elections when the BJP-Janta Dal alliance won all the 25 seats in the lok sabha from Rajasthan and won 140 seats in the assembly polls that followed. Shekhawat once again became Chief minister of Rajasthan. In the next elections, after the split in the alliance, Shekhawat led the BJP to be the single largest party wining 96 seats. Three BJP-supported independents also won taking the tally to 99. Many independents supported the BJP and its final tally was 116. Congress did its best to stop Shekhawat from forming the government. But due to the support of independents, Shekhawat was able to form the government. In the next elections, in the year 1998, the Shekhawat government lost due to the onion price rise issue. But the BJP bounced back in the Lok Sabha elections in the year 1999, just one year after the assembly polls. BJP won 14 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats from Rajasthan. Shekhawat was elected as the Vice President of India in the year 2002, when he defeated the opposition candidate by a margin of 149 votes out of the 750 votes polled. For the first time, a non-Congress person was elected as the Vice President of the country. Shekhawat is a contender in the 2007 Presidential elections, though his age (he will be 85 years old at the time of the elections and 90 at term-completion, assuming he is elected) may play a spoilsport.But after he climbed the eiffel tower at the age of 83, people dont gind his age to be any factor against him.
| Preceded by Krishan Kant |
Vice President of India August 19, 2002-Present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
[edit] Presidentship?
- He is thought by Indian press to be in the fray for Office of President of India after the term of present incumbent Dr. APJ Kalam is over.Points in his favour- Is widely respected, has redoubtable reputation, immence friendship with veterans, not a single charge against him, and an extremely clean 55 years political career. Points against him- His Rashtria Swayam Sevak Dal (RSS) past could count against him. [1]
