The former BJP national president and former Union law Minister, K Jana Krishnamurthy, 79, died at a private hospital in Chennai at 10:15 AM on Tuesday because of a lingering illness. His wife, two sons and three daughters survived him.

According to the report, Jana was suffering from kidney failure. He was getting treatment in a private hospital in Chennai. One month back, Jana had gone into coma and never came back in consciousness during the treatment. His body brought to his residence by the family members in Kilpauk for public homage on Tuesday evening.

Jana was one of the founding members of the BJP. Senior state BJP leaders, including party president L Ganesan, were present at the residence to pay their homage to Jana Krishnamurthy. Earlier, L K Advani had also visited at the hospital last week to know the condition of Jana. He is expected to arrive later in the evening to pay his last respects to the veteran leader.

Jana was a lawyer by profession and he joined active politics in 1965, when the then Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Guruji Golwalkar persuaded him to enter into politics. He was an active member of the RSS from 1940. AB Vajpayee asked him to accept the post of general secretary of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) in Tamil Nadu. He played an active role to expand mass base of the organization in South India.

In 1980, he was in the founders’ team of the BJP along with Vajpayee, Advani, S S Bhandari, Kushabhau Thakre and Jaganatha Rao Joshi. He was the founder national secretary. From 1980 to 1990, he helped the BJP for 10 years to expand the base in the southern states in the country such as Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

In 1993, Advani requested him to come to Delhi where he worked to establish the intellectual cells of the BJP on economic, defence and foreign affairs. From 1995 onwards he handled the BJP headquarters. He was appointed as National president of BJP in 2001. He was the first Tamilian to head a national party in India after Congress leader K Kamaraj.

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