Past presidents of BJP

Atal Behari Vajpayee
Founder president, a great orator who enthused the cadre and mesmerised the people with his emotionally-charged speeches, still has a fan following throughout the country, acceptable to allies due to his moderate image.

Lal Krishna Advani
The quintessential organisation man, knew all party functionaries at the district level, came to be recognised as a mass leader after 1990 Somnath-Ayodhya Rath Yatra, if Atalji spoke to the heart, Advani spoke to the brain, seen as the power behind the throne.

Murali manohar joshi
A brilliant academic from Allahabad, he’s a hardcore, BJP man with strong roots in the RSS, who failed to emerge as a mass leader despite a Kanyakumari-Kashmir Ekta Yatra.

M.Venkaiah Naidu
A surprise choice from Nellore, AP, first South Indian to head the party, an Advani acolyte, an orator in Hindi, English and Telugu, his tenure saw the emergence of personality-cult in BJP.

Kushabhau Thakre
A strong base in Madhya Pradesh, he too was from the RSS hardcore, a quintessential organisation man with little or no grassroots appeal but sharp on ideological and party matters. He endeared himself to the cadre.

Bangaru Laxman
Second man from Andhra Pradesh and the first dalit to head the party, he had to quit after he was caught taking bribes on camera.

K. Jana Krishnamurthy
Had a strong RSS background, was the party’s founder general secretary, was also Union minister, and was brought to the top post exit of Bangaru Laxman.

Rajnath Singh
A Jat from UP was made president to revive the party in UP, his background had earlier helped him to become Union agriculture minister.