BJP loses its stalwart leader

JAIPUR: Lalit Kishore Chaturvedi, 84, veteran politician of BJP died on early Sunday morning. He was born in Kota in 1931 to Purushottam Lal and Sooraj Bai. He was adopted by his maternal grandfather Anandi Lal who brought him up in traditional Brahmin culture. He married Urmila Devi, a girl from Mumbai.
He was influenced by K B Hedgewar (founding leader of RSS) and joined RSS.Chaturvedi served as RSS pracharak and contributed greatly in building the erstwhile Jan Sangh in Hadauti region. Chaturvedi along with Krishna Kumar Goel, Hari Kumar Audichya, Dau Dayal Joshi, Raghubir Singh Kaushal and Vijay Singh Palaytha worked tirelessly to make Hadauti region a strong saffron bastion and was largely respected by the party's worker.
Chaturvedi joined Jan Sangh in 1966 and became its chief organizing secretary after quitting his job as a physics lecturer from Maharani Jaya College, Bharatpur. Chaturvedi contested the 1973 Vidhan Sabha elections from Digod in 1973, but lost and entered the Vidhan Sabha in 1977 as a Janta Party MLA and served as a minister in Shekhawat's government. He served as MLA on five occasions.
He rose in the political horizon post-Emergency in 1977. A postgraduate in Physics from Rajasthan University and a strong RSS background helped him become a force to reckon with in the BJP after the party's formation. He was the party's state president twice.
Chaturvedi was the BJP's president in 2003 when the Bhairon Singh Shekhawat quit state politics to become the country's vice-president. Though he served Shekhawat as his minister holding different portfolios like education, PWD, higher education, irrigation, local self government, energy, medical and health, Chaturvedi was in disagreement with Shekhawat on numerous political and policy issues.
A liberal like Shekhawat was challenged on policy issues by Chaturvedi, so much so that once during an RSS rally in Jaipur, Shekhawat reached the rally venue in khaki shorts and a black cap to show that he was not averse to the RSS.
In 1989 when the Ayodhya temple controversy was at its peak, he decided to go to Ayodhya as kar sewak to Shekhawat's embarrassment. In 2003 when he was the party's president and had the best chance of becoming the chief minister, he lost the Vidhan Sabha elections. However, largely because of the patronage of chief minister Vasundhara Raje, he was rehabilitated and became a member of the Rajya Sabha.
Chaturvedi, along with other senior party leaders like Ramdas Agarwal and Hari Shankar Bhabhra fell out with Vasundhara Raje after which Raje emerged as a strong leader from Hadauti region. Chaturvedi after completing his tenure in Rajya Sabha went into political oblivion and chose to serve the poor by arranging their medical treatment. He was a sad man after losing his wife Urmila and son Mahesh and lived a quiet life at his Jawahar Nagar residence.
EOM
Jaipur. Lalit Kishor Chaturvedi,84 rose in the political horizon of the state just after the emergency in 1977. He was imprisoned during the emergency in 1975 as he was a staunch RSS activist and Chaturvedi ,a post graduate in Physics from Rajasthan University with his strong RSS background became a force to reckon with in the BJP after the formation of the party and twice became the state president of the saffron party .
Chaturvedi was the party's president in 2003 when the patriarch of the BJP Bhairon Singh Shekhawat quit the state politics to become country's vice president. Chaturvedi was an adversary of Shekhawat.Though he served Shekhawat as his minister holding varied portfolio like education PWD, higher education, irrigation, local self government, energy and medical and health he did not see eye to eye with Shekhawat on numerous political and policy issues. A liberal like Shekhawat was challenged on policy issues by Chaturvedi, so much so that once during an RSS rally in Jaipur Shekhawat reached the rally venue in khaki short and wearing a black cap to show the RSS leaders that he was not averse to the RSS. This he did to the discomfort of Chaturvedi,who was flying the RSS flag in the Shekhawat government.
In 1989 when the Ayodhya temple controversy was at its peak, he decided to go to Ayodhya as kar sewak to the great embarrassment of Shekhawat.He resigned as a minister to join the strong RSS supporters who had gone to Ayodhya to demolish Babri Masjid.
Chaturvedi rose in the political horizon of the saffron party which he joined in 1966 and became the chief organizing secretary of the erstwhile Jan Sangh quitting his job as a physics lecturer while he was teaching in Maharani Jaya College at Bharatpur.
Chaturvedi served as lecturer in various government colleges and was first posted at Banswara in 1954. He was influenced by Hegdewar and in 1944 joined the RSS. Born in 1931 in Kota to Purushottam Lal and Sooraj Bai Lalitji was adopted by h his maternal grand father Anandi Lal who brought him up in traditional Bramhnical culture. He married Urmila Devi, a girl from Mumbai who although supported her husband in his political pursuit and took care of four sons and a daughter facing a lot hardship after Lalitji quit the government job.
Chaturvedi, served a Pracharak of the RSS and contributed greatly in building the erstwhile Jan Sangh in the Hadauti region. Chaturvedi along with Krishna Kumar Goel, Hari Kumar Audichya, Dau Dayal Joshi, Raghubir Singh Kaushal and Vijay Singh Palaytha worked tirelessly to make the Hadauti region a strong saffron bastion and was largely respected by the party's worker.
Chaturvedi contested the 1973 Vidhan Sabha election from Digod in 1973, but lost and entered the Vidhan Sabha in 1977 as a Janta party MLA and served as a minister in Shekhawat's government.H served as MLA on five occasions.
In 2003 when he was the party's president and had the best chance of becoming the Chief Minister,he lost the Vidhan Sabha election. However, largely because of the patronage of Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, he was rehabilitated and became a member of the Rajya Sabha.
But Chaturvedi along with other senior party leaders like Ramdas Agarwal and Hari Shankar Bhabhra fell out with Vasundhara Raje so much so that even in his own Hadauti region Vasundhara Raje emerged as the tallest leader. Chaturvedi after completing his tenure in Rajya Sabha went into political oblivion and chose to serve the poor by arranging their medical treatment. He was sad man after losing his wife Urmila and son Mahesh and lived a quite life at his Jawahar Nagar residence.
Chaturvedi contributed immensely for the RSS and the party also for education.