BJP stalwart Kailash Joshi passes away at 90

Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and veteran BJP leader Kailash Joshi passed away in Bhopal on Sunday shortly before noon. He was 90.

Joshi was ailing for some months and was admitted to a private hospital. His death has cast a gloom in the political circles across parties in Madhya Pradesh and in Chhattisgarh, which was part of the undivided state he headed as the Chief Minister from June 1977 to January 1978. Both the states have declared a day's mourning.

Joshi's body will be kept at the state BJP office here for a day for people to pay homage. His family members want to perform the last rites at Hatpipalya in Dewas district on Monday.

Joshi was a founding member of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the previous avatar of the BJP, in 1951.

On June 26, 1977, he was chosen as the Chief Minister against the wishes of the Jana Sangh component of the Janata Party which wanted Virendra Kumar Sakhlecha at the helm of affairs in Madhya Pradesh.

But Joshi's tenure did not last long. He was replaced by Sakhlecha on January 18, 1978. Strangely, it was his own party that wanted him replaced because the extra constitutional elements found him unresponsive to the extraneous demands.

In 1990, when the BJP defeated the Congress to win a simple majority, Joshi was the popular choice among the party legislators. But the party high command overruled the choice and imposed Sunderlal Patwa on the legislative party.

The move was criticised as the BJP was boasting of democratic values in the selection of party leaders. A worldly wise Patwa was chosen over Joshi in the hope that he would run the government and sustain the party financially.

Joshi was expected to have been made a Governor under the new BJP dispensation. But he was apparently found unsuitable to do the bidding of the new leadership which seemed to have no use for saintly disposition.

He was also elected an MP and raised the issues of Madhya Pradesh in the Parliament. His son Deepak Joshi was a minister in Shivraj Singh Chauhan's government.

Condoling Joshi's death, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath tweeted: "The death of Kailash Joshi, a soft-spoken, simple, easy going personality is an irreparable loss in the political field. My condolences to the family."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah, former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel too condoled Joshi’s death.

Congress leader K.K. Mishra said the death of Joshi brought to an end an era where politics represented healthy, idealistic character of true values. "Joshi was a symbol of simplicity and renunciation. He represented genuine values in politics," Mishra said.