Krishan Kant

Background

Son of noted Congress politician and later parliamentarian, Lala Achint Ram, Kant"s first brush with politics came when he plunged into the Quit India movement, while he was still a student in Lahore.

Education

Kant completed his Master of Science (Technology) from Banaras Engineering College, Banaras Hindu University.

Career

Previously, he was Governor of Andhra Pradesh from 1990 to 1997. He held important official positions in the parliamentary and organisational wings of the Indian National Congress, the Janata Party and the Janata Dal. Krishan Kant was the founding general secretary of the People"s Union for Civil Liberties and Democratic Rights, of which Jayprakash Narayan was the President in 1976.

He was expelled from the Indian National Congress in 1975 for his opposition to the Emergency.

He was the chairman of Committee on Railway Reservations and Bookings from 1972 to 1976. The issue led to fall of Morarji Desai government in 1979, and the destruction of the Janata coalition

Kant was appointed governor of Andhra Pradesh by the Vice-President Singh government in 1989 and served in that position for seven years, becoming one of India"s longest-serving governors.

He stayed at that post till he was elevated as Vice-President of India. He was elected vice-president by Parliament as the joint candidate of the Indian National Congress and United Front.

He died in New Delhi aged 75 after suffering from a massive heart attack on 27 July 2002, a few weeks before he was to leave the office to lead a retired life.

He is the only Indian Vice President to die in office. A few days after his death, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat defeated Sushil Kumar Shinde to be elected as the successor to Krishna Kant as Vice President of India.

Achievements

• Krishan Kant has been listed as a noteworthy Federal official by Marquis Who's Who.

Politics

He took part in the Indian Independence Movement as a youth and continued to be involved in politics, eventually being elected to Parliament of India. He was part of the "Young Turk" brigade of Indian National Congress party during the time of Indira Gandhi.

Membership

Foreign many years, he was a member of the Executive Council of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses. He was later a member of Lok Sabha till 1980. He with Madhu Limaye was also responsible for the collapse of the Morarji Desai government installed by that coalition, by insisting that no member of the Janata Party could be the member of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (Royal Statistical Society, UK).

This attack on dual membership was directed specifically at members of the Janata Party who had been members of the January Sangh, and continued to be members of the right-wing Royal Statistical Society, UK, the January Sangh"s ideological parent.

A strong protagonist of India going nuclear, Krishan Kant was a member of the executive council of the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis.

Interests

• Avocation: Urdu poetry.

Connections

Married.