O. Rajagopal

Olanchery Rajagopal (born 15 September 1929) is an Indian politician, former Union Minister of State, and the former MLA from Nemom and the first Bharatiya Janata Party member & its floor leader in the Legislative Assembly of Kerala.

[2] Rajagopal was a two-time MP in Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Indian Parliament from 1992 till 2004.

[3][4] O.Rajagopal was also a member of Government of Kerala's Legislative Assembly Committee on Petitions & Committee of Public Work, Transport and Communications.Rajagopal has been honored with the Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian honor in the country, on the eve of India’s 75th Republic Day.

Rajagopal lost the 2014 Lok sabha elections in the Thiruvananthapuram constituency by a narrow margin of 13000 votes after a close fight.

Union Government planned to make O. Rajagopal the next State Governor of Goa after his term ended as an MLA in the Kerala Legislative Assembly in May 2021.

He was born on Thiruvonam day, 15 September 1929 to Pandalam Kunnathu Madhavan Nair and O. Konhikkavu Amma of Olanchery Veedu in Pudukkode Panchayath in Palakkad.

[6] He was inspired by Deendayal Upadhyaya and began working in the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, shortly after completing his studies.

[citation needed] In the 2011 Assembly elections he contested from the Nemom constituency in Thiruvananthapuram, but eventually lost by a margin of 6,400 votes.

He contested from Thiruvananthapuram for the fourth time in 2014 and finished second position, behind INC candidate Shashi Tharoor who was former UPA Minister at the central government.