Bhavurao Deshpande

Bhavurao Venkatrao Deshpande was a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party and is considered as one of the founding fathers of the BJP in Karnataka.

He was associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh from a very young age and after completing his education, he dedicated his entire life to the service of the nation and propagating nationalist thought by becoming a full time worker (Pracharak) of the RSS. He was later deputed to serve the fledging Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the political arm of the RSS. An effective organiser, he travelled extensively throught out Karnataka along with Jagannathrao Joshi and built the party brick by brick. He inspired hundreds of Jana Sangh workers by his simplicity, humility, dedication and selfless service. He had a good understanding of the attitude of the Party workers and responded well to their needs. Despite his poor health, he spared no effort in taking his party to the masses. He was arrested along with thousands of other Opposition leaders and workers during the Emergency. After the formation of the Janata Party, he became the General Secretary of the state unit of the party. In 1978, he was elected to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly from Hubli-Dharwad. He was one of the founding leaders of the BJP and was the state general secretary of the party for 10 years from 1980 to 1990. He groomed many young leaders of the BJP such as B.B.Shivappa, B.S. Yeddyurappa, Ananth Kumar, K.S.Eshwarappa, Jagadish Shettar and others. His was an ideal life characterised by dedicated patriotic service. Like a Karma Yogi, he literally spent his entire life selflessly serving the party organisation and thus, laid a firm foundation for the BJP in Karnataka.

He died on 16 May 1991.

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