Kushabhau Thakre

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Kushabhau Thakre (b. August 15, 1922 - d. December 28, 2003) was a political leader in India.

He was born in Dhar, Madhya Pradesh, and completed his education there. In 1942, he was inducted as a Pracharak by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. He continued to move up in the Jana Sangh, the political wing of the RSS at the time, and then in the Janata Party when it merged. During the 1977-1979 Emergency, he was jailed for 19 months alongside numerous other opposition political leaders. He was elected to Lok Sabha in 1979 in a by-election from Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh.

When the Bharatiya Janata Party was formed in 1980, he was appointed as a Secretary. Throughout the years, he continued as a national General Secretary, Vice-President or "in-charge" of a particular state. On April 14th, 1998, Thakre was elected as President of the Bharatiya Janata Party. In August 2000, he stepped down from this post.