Jaswant Singh

Jaswant Singh Biography

Jaswant Singh is a prominent politician who belonged to Bharatiya Janata Party, but expelled from the party on 29 March 2014, following his refusal to withdraw his nomination as an independent in the Barmer-Jaisalmer Lok Sabha constituency. He did so when he was denied a Member of Parliament ticket for Barmer Lok Sabha constituency by his own party. However he was not able to win the seat, though he contested as an independent candidate. He lost by a big margin of over 87,000 votes against BJP's Colonel Sonaram. Jaswant Singh has been one of the prominent leaders of BJP known for his rigid political views and as a cabinet minister he has handled Finance, External Affairs and Defence during the NDA regime. He was also the Leader of Opposition from 2004 to 2009 in the Rajya Sabha.

He was born in Rajasthan in a Rajput family on January 3, 1938. He was an army officer before joining active politics. He entered politics in the late 1960’s. But it took a few more years to get recognition as a youth leader cum politician. Bhairon Singh Shekhawat was his political mentor. He was first selected for the Rajyasabha in the year 1980. He has also served as India’s Financial Minister for a brief period of 15 days in Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s cabinet in 1996. He has also served as the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission of India during 1998-1999. He received Outstanding Parliamentarian Award for the year 2001.

During Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s second term as Prime Minister, Singh has served as Minister for External Affairs and Finance Minister. In 2009 he was expelled from the party for certain remarks in his released book. He was the candidate for Vice president Post for the NDA in 2012.

Published: N/A

Updated: May 21, 2014