MP’s first non-Congress CM Kailash Chandra Joshi dies at 90

In the elections held immediately after the Emergency was lifted, the Janata Party defeated the Congress and Joshi became CM for less than seven months between June 1977 and January 1978 — he resigned on health grounds. Before being elected as the CM, he was the Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly for five years.

Sunder Singh Bhandari, L.K. Advani, Kailash Joshi and Atal Behari Vajpayee at a BJP working committee meeting in New Delhi. (Archive/Express photo by R.K. Dayal)

His long career began with a membership of the Bharatiya Jansangh. Describing him as a stalwart who contributed strongly to MP’s growth, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Joshi worked hard to strengthen the Jana Sangh and the BJP in central India and made a mark as an effective legislator.

‘Saint of Indian politics’ Kailash Chandra Joshi passes away at 90

Chief Minister Kamal Nath said the loss was irreparable and described the BJP stalwart as soft spoken.

Besides representing Bagli in Dewas district eight times, Joshi was also the Bhopal MP between 2004 and 2014. He also represented the state in the Rajya Sabha. He was twice the state president of the BJP. His son Deepak Joshi was the school education minister in the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government. Calling him ‘saint-like’, Chouhan said Joshi was simple and avoided pretence.