Jana Krishnamurthi
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Ex-President of the BJP, Former Union Law Minister & Member of Parliament of India, K. Jana Krishnamurthi was born on May 24, 1928, in Madurai in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. A proud alumnus of the Chennai Law College, Jana Krishnamurthi gave up his successful law practice in Madurai in the year 1965. He was persuaded by Shri Guruji Golwalkar, the then chief of the RSS, to enter politics.
An active member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) from 1940, Jana took over as the General Secretary of the Bharatiya 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 the Bharathiya Janata Party (BJP) along with Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani, SS Bhandari, Kushabhau Thakre & 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 Lotus, bloom in the four Southern states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
In 1993 he moved to Delhi at the request of Shri L. K. Advani and set up the Intellectual Cells of the BJP on Economic, Defence & Foreign Affairs. From 1995 onwards he was in charge of the BJP Head Quarters. He also served as the Spokesperson of the Party. On March 14, 2001 he took over as the President of the BJP from Bangaru Laxman. He held office till June 2002.
Then he became the Union Law Minister in the cabinet of Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He stepped down in a year, due to ill health. Today he's a Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament from the State of Gujarat. He's an active member of the Parliament Standing Committees on External Affairs & Defence. He's also the Chairman of the Petitions Committee. His tenure will be remembered for his frank and forthright report on Petrol Adulteration.
Jana Krishnamurthi has contested the parliamentary election from South Chennai. He lost it by a whisker in the year 1998.
Known for his unimpeachable integrity, simplicity and meticulous organisation skills, Jana Krishnamurthi has kept an unusually low profile in the BJP ever since 2003.
Trivia
Jana Krishnamurthi was the first Tamil politician to head a national party in India after Kamaraj.
