Madan Lal Khurana

Madan Lal Khurana (15 October 1936 – 27 October 2018) was an Indian politician who served as the 3rd Chief Minister of Delhi from 1993 to 1996. He was also the Governor of Rajasthan in 2004. Born in British India, Khurana was known as Dilli ka Sher in Bharatiya Janata Party. He served as the Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Minister of Tourism in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government from 1998 to 1999.

Early life Khurana was born on 15 October 1936 in Lyallpur, Punjab Province (British India) (now called Faisalabad in Punjab, Pakistan) to S. D. Khurana and Laxmi Devi. Khurana was barely 12 when the family was forced to migrate to Delhi by India's partition and began to piece its life together again at a refugee colony in Kirti Nagar in New Delhi. He graduated with a bachelor's degree from Kirori Mal College under Delhi University.

Political career

As a student Khurana had his training in politics at Allahabad University, where he was doing his post-graduation in economics.

Jan Sangh As a youth, Khurana became a teacher with Vijay Kumar Malhotra, at PGDAV (evening) College before deciding to enter politics.

He was the Chief Minister of Delhi from 1993 until he resigned in 1996. The party declined to reinstate him and preferred staying with Sahib Singh Verma.

He along with Kedar Nath Sahani and Vijay Kumar Malhotra kept the party afloat in New Delhi for more than four decades spanning from 1960 to 2000.

The peak of his career saw him serve as the Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Tourism in the Vajpayee government, before resigning in January 1999, owing to a fallout with the senior leadership of the party following a series of attacks on Christians that were blamed on Hindu groups. He also served as the governor of Rajasthan from 14 January 2004 to 28 October 2004, when he resigned to return to politics in Delhi after about half a dozen MLAs from Delhi went up to him in Jaipur Raj Bhawan requesting that he return to active politics.

On 20 August 2005, Khurana was removed from the BJP for indiscipline for publicly criticising BJP president Lal Krishna Advani and expressing inability and discomfort at serving with him. On 12 September 2005, he was taken back to the party and given back his responsibilities after he apologised about his remarks about the party's leadership.

On 19 March 2006, he was again expelled from the primary membership of the BJP for his anti-party statements. Khurana spoke against the party leadership when he announced that he would attend expelled Saffron Party leader Uma Bharti's rally in Delhi. Khurana left the BJP, accusing it of not helping solve his cause as committed to giving weight to his mission of developing Delhi.

Criticism

In 1991, an arrest linked to militants in Kashmir led to a raid on hawala brokers, revealing evidence of large-scale payments to national politicians. The Central Bureau of Investigation's role was criticised. In concluding the Vineet Narain case, the Supreme Court of India directed that the Central Vigilance Commission should be given a supervisory role over the CBI.

Personal life Khurana was married to Raj Khurana. Together they had four children. One of his sons, Vimal, died in August 2018. Two months later, at 11 p.m. (IST) on 27 October 2018, Khurana died at his residence in Kirti Nagar, New Delhi, aged 82. He had a brain hemorrhage five years prior to his death and had been ailing since then.