Lakshman Prasad Acharya (born 3 October 1954) is an Indian politician,serving as the 17thGovernor of Sikkim. Being affiliated to the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP),he was a member of Legislative Council from Uttar Pradesh elected by the members of Legislative Assembly from 2015 to 2023.
Acharya was born on 3 October 1954 as the second son of Late Shri Kalidas Kharwar and Late Smt. Pyari Devi in a lower middle-class family in Varanasi,UP. His grandfather Late Shri Kanhaiya Prasad worked in Banaras Hindu University (BHU) as a security person. He has two brothers:Shriram Prasad and Shitla Prasad;and one sister:Vindhvasini Verma. He belongs to the Kharwar caste.
Acharya started his career as a teacher in Bhartiya Shishu Mandir schools. Having a penchant for teaching and a mission for imparting education to all sections of society,Acharya started many schools in various remote areas deprived of education. He married Kumud Devi in June 1987. He has a daughter Shraddha,who is married to social entrepreneur Baran Roy.
Social life and journey
From his early life Acharya became a swayamsevak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). In 1973 he started as a teacher at Bhartiya Shishu Mandir,Ramnagar Varanasi where he worked till 1975. In 1972,under the leadership of Shri Subramanium Swamy,Acharya participated in the agitation against “Shimla Agreement”,wherein he was arrested along with the other agitators.
During the Emergency in India from 1975 to 1976,Acharya became an active member of the broad spectrum of opposition under the leadership of Jai Prakash Narayan. On the directions of the upper command,he went underground to avoid arrest,and continued to actively work for the cause.
On 22 June 1977,Acharya started a campaign “शिशुशिक्षागांवकीओर”(Child Education in the Village),with the sole aim establishing schools in remotest villages. Consequently,he earned the reputation of becoming the first person to open private primary schools in villages in Eastern UP.
In 1990,Acharya became the divisional president of the BJP Ramnagar area,Varanasi. In 1995,he became the General Secretary of the erstwhile combined district of Varanasi (Varanasi and Chandauli) of BJP.
In 2002,Acharya was promoted within the BJP ranks as the Regional Minister of the Kashi Kshetra.
In the year 2004,Acharya was appointed as the State President of the BJP SC/ST Wing for the state of Uttar Pradesh. In this role,Acharya worked extensively for the upliftment of the SC/ST population of the state and raised their issues at different platforms for resolution and for the concerned government agencies to take notice. Post the completion of his term as the State President of BJP SC/ST Wing,Acharya continuously served at different positions within the BJP cadres.
From 2004 to 2014,Congress led UPA government stayed in the power at the Centre. The 2014 General election was a very important event for the country and for both the political parties –BJP and the incumbent Congress. For the 2014 general elections,since Shri Narendra Modi was the face of the party as the Prime Minister candidate,talks were high that he might contest from the religious capital of the country “Kashi”. Just before the general elections,in 2013,on the recommendation of the then State BJP President Dr. L.K. Bajpai,the party trusted Lakshman Prasad Acharya with the very crucial responsibility of President of the Kashi Region,BJP having the responsibility of 71 seats spanning over 16 districts. Acharya worked tirelessly as per the directions of the BJP central leadership and Shri Amit Shah –who was in-charge of UP for the 2014 elections.
The BJP won almost all parliamentary seats in the Kashi Region in the 2014 elections. In Varanasi district,Narendra Modi won by a huge margin with 56.37% votes which was more than double of the runner up candidate who could secure only 20.30% votes.
Being one of the most senior and popularly accepted leaders in the party UP cadre,the BJP fielded Acharya as a candidate for the UP MLC (Member of Legislative Council) 2015 elections from the Legislative Assembly constituency against its only seat;and he was elected to the Uttar Pradesh Upper House on 31 January 2015. As a member of the UP Legislative Council,Acharya served as member and Chairman of key committees:
During the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election,Acharya was still the President of Kashi Kshetra BJP. Under Acharya,the BJP performed exceptionally in the 16 districts of Kashi Kshetra winning 54 out of 71 seats,which forms roughly a 76% winning rate.
In February 2018,Acharya was promoted to the position of Vice-President of BJP Uttar Pradesh. The same year he was also named as the convener of Narendra Modi’s parliamentary seat Varanasi for the 2019 general elections. Narendra Modi won the Varanasi seat with 4.80 lakh votes.
In August 2020,Lakshman Prasad Acharya became the Deputy Leader of the House (Legislative Council) for the BJP. On 15 January 2021,Acharya was appointed as the Deputy Leader of the House for a second term. He stayed in office till 15 February 2023,when he resigned from the Legislative Council to take oath as the Governor of Sikkim.
Governorship
On 16 February 2023,Lakshman Prasad Acharya took oath as the 17th Governor of Sikkim. He was preceded by Ganga Prasad.
Related Research Articles
Ram Naik is a veteran Indian politician from the Bharatiya Janata Party,served as the 19th Governor of Uttar Pradesh.
Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi is an Indian politician and was the Union Minister of Minority Affairs. He had served as a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha from 2002 to 2022 and was Deputy Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha between 2021 and 2022.
Kalraj Mishra is an Indian politician,serving as the Governor of Rajasthan. He is the former Governor of Himachal Pradesh and Cabinet Minister of Micro,Small and Medium Enterprises in the BJP-led NDA government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Being affiliated with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP),he was a member of Parliament from Deoria constituency in Uttar Pradesh from 2014 to 2019.
Rajesh Verma is an Indian politician and a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He was elected to the 13th Lok Sabha in 1999,the 14th Lok Sabha in 2004,the 16th Lok Sabha in 2014 and the 17th Lok Sabha in 2019 from Sitapur constituency in Uttar Pradesh state. In 2019 he won his fourth 4th election in Sitapur as a BJP candidate by 101,000 votes.
Dr Ramapati Ram Tripathi is the 17th Lok Sabha Member of Parliament in 2019 elections,he won the election from the Deoria seat of Uttar Pradesh,Dr Ramapati Ram Tripathi is a former president of Bharatiya Janata Party Uttar Pradesh state unit in India. He held the post of UP BJP General Secretary before being appointed as BJP's UP chief in September 2007.
The organisation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is based upon the Constitution of the BJP. The organisation of the BJP is strictly hierarchical,with the president being the highest authority in the party. The party is considered to be a cadre-based party that draws from the Hindutva-based ideology of its parent organisation,the RSS.
Jai Ram Thakur is an Indian politician,and was the Chief Minister of the state of Himachal Pradesh from 2017 to 2022. He is serving his sixth term as MLA in the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly,winning continuously since 1998 and has previously served as a Cabinet Minister in the Bharatiya Janata Party Government of Himachal Pradesh. Thakur was the Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj from 2009 to 2012. He is serving as Leader of opposition in current legislative assembly of the state.He is elected to Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly from Seraj Assembly constituency of Mandi district. He won his first election in the year 1998 from now delimited constituency of Chachiot (Seraj).
Anupriya Patel is an Indian politician,teacher and social worker from the state of Uttar Pradesh who is the President of Apna Dal (Sonelal) party since 2016 and the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry of India since 7 July 2021. She represents Mirzapur in Lok Sabha since 2014. She was the Minister of State in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,Government of India,from 2016 to 2019. She was previously elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for the Rohaniya constituency of the Legislature of Uttar Pradesh in Varanasi,where she had fought a campaign in alliance with the Peace Party of India and Bundelkhand Congress from 2012 to 2014.
Shiv Pratap Shukla is an Indian politician and statesman. Currently,he is the Governor of Himachal Pradesh. He was the Minister of State for Finance in the First Modi ministry. He was a Member of Parliament in the upper house of the Indian Parliament represented the Indian state,Uttar Pradesh.
Ajay Rai is an Indian politician and a member of the Indian National Congress since 2012. He is a five-time MLA from Uttar Pradesh. He is the current Uttar Pradesh Congress chief.
Keshav Prasad Maurya is an Indian politician,currently serving as the Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Maurya was associated with right wing Hindu organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh,before entering active politics through BJP. He was also involved in cow protectionism in his early life. Before 2017 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly elections,he was made state president of the BJP,and after the victory of BJP,he was appointed as Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh in the first Yogi Adityanath Government. Maurya again contested the legislative assembly elections in 2022 from Sirathu Assembly constituency,losing to Pallavi Patel of Samajwadi Party. However,he was given second term as Deputy CM in the second Yogi Adityanath government.
Mahendra Nath Pandey is an Indian politician currently serving as Minister of Heavy Industries he previously served as Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship of India and Member of Lok Sabha for Chandauli since 2014. He is a member of Bharatiya Janata Party and is the president of the party's Uttar Pradesh unit. He has also served as Union Minister of State for Ministry of Human Resource Development between 2016 and 2017. He is a member of Modi's second ministry. On 30 May 2019,he was appointed as Cabinet minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship,Government of India.
Madhav Prasad Tripathi was a leader of Bharatiya Janata Party from Uttar Pradesh. He was an Indian philosopher,sociologist,historian and political scientist. He was one of the most important leaders of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh and played key role in establishing the party,the forerunner of the present day Bharatiya Janata Party.
Om Prakash Dhankar also known as O. P. Dhankar,was a Cabinet Minister in the Bharatiya Janata Party run Government of Haryana till 2019.,is an Indian politician and social activist,belonging to the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and formerly is the President of Bhartiya Janata Party,Haryana.
Arun Singh is an Indian politician and Chartered Accountant who is the current Member of Parliament,Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh from 5 December 2019. He is Bharatiya Janata Party National General Secretary and Head Quarter Incharge from 17 June 2015.
The election to the 17th Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly was held from 11 February to 8 March 2017 in 7 phases. This election saw a voter turnout of 61.11% compared to 59.40% in the previous election. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the election by an overwhelming three-quarters majority of 325 seats despite not projecting a chief ministerial candidate before the election. As part of its election strategy,BJP contested under a collective leadership and capitalised mostly on the political clout and 'brand' of its leader Narendra Modi.
Apna Dal (Sonelal) or Apna Dal (Soneylal) is an Indian political party active in Uttar Pradesh. The party finds its support base mainly in the Kurmi community in the region of Varanasi,Uttar Pradesh.
Anurag Singh is an Indian politician and a member of Legislative Assembly,Uttar Pradesh of India. He represents the Chunar constituency in Mirzapur district of Uttar Pradesh. Anurag Singh is Bhartiya Janta Party MLA from Chunar assembly of district Mirzapur for the second consecutive time. He is the son of Om Prakash Singh,ex BJP Uttar Pradesh State President.
Pranjal Yadav is an Indian Administrative Services officer who is the Special Secretary at the National Integration Department;Special Secretary,Medical Health &Family Welfare and Additional Mission Director,National Health Mission,Government of Uttar Pradesh.
Arvind Kumar Sharma is an Indian politician from Uttar Pradesh,Former IAS officer and Bureaucrat. He is currently the Cabinet Minister in Uttar Pradesh. Before joining politics,Sharma was an Indian Administrative Service officer from Gujarat Cadre of the 1988 batch. Sharma is considered a close aide of Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi with whom he had worked for 20 years. He was also CEO,Gujarat Infrastructure Development Board and has also managed multiple Vibrant Gujarat summits. He joined the Prime Minister's Office as a Joint Secretary in 2014 and was elevated to the Additional Secretary rank in 2017. In 2019,he moved out of the PMO to become a secretary in the Ministry of Micro,Small and Medium Enterprises but took voluntary retirement in January 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
