New Delhi, September 25
Jana K. Krishnamurthy, who became the first leader from the south to become the president of the BJP, died here today after a prolonged illness.

Seventynine-year-old Krishnamurthy, who was law minister for some time in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, is survived by wife, two sons and three daughters.

Jana, as he was called by his admirers, was appointed president of the BJP after the unceremonious exit of Bangaru Lakshman in the wake of the Tehelka scam. His term at the party’s helm, however, came to an end next year when L. K. Advani’s supporter M. Venkaiah Naidu was appointed president of the party.

Krishnamurthy, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat, was later made a minister in the Vajpayee government.

Considered one of the cleanest politicians, he started his political career as an RSS volunteer in 1940 and stayed with the pro-Hindu stream throughout in a state where Dravidian parties made great progress in the post-independent India.

Born on May 24, 1928, in Madurai in a family of lawyers, he practised as an advocate in the city for over 10 years, before he was attracted to the RSS. He later became its pranth baudhik pramukh.

He enrolled himself as a member of the Jan Sangh, the previous “avataar” of the BJP, in 1965.

During emergency, he was the secretary of the “resistance movement” in Tamil Nadu. At that time, he came into close contact with some national leaders like George Fernandes, who was staying in the state then.

When the Janata Party was formed in 1977, Krishnamurthy was named one of the general secretaries of the party’s Tamil Nadu unit.

When the party split in 1980 on the issue of dual membership, Krishnamurthy, a close confidant of Vajpayee and Advani, became one of the founders of the BJP and was given the charge of southern states. He moved to New Delhi in 1993 to head the intellectual cell of the party.

Before becoming president of the party, he was the general secretary and vice-president for many terms.

His funeral will be held tomorrow. — PTI