Ram Prakash Gupta

Ram Prakash Gupta Biography

Ram Prakash Gupta was an Indian politician from who served as the 18th Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, during 12 November 1999 - 28 October 2000, preceeded by Kalyan Singh. He was succeeded by Rajnath Singh. Gupta was Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh when Charan Singh formed the first non-Congress government in 1967. He became Chief Minister of the state in 1999, his only term as state CM, and was soon replaced by Rajnath Singh. During his early days of political career, he was associated with Bharatiya Jana Sangh. When Bharatiya Janata Party was formed in the 1980s, he became a part of it.

Ram Prakash Gupta was born in Jhansi, United Provinces of British India on 26 October 1923. He completed his post-graduation from Allahabad University, and was affiliated with Bharatiya Jana Sangh since his college days. In the 1960s when he joined state assembly, he was associated with same party. He became Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh when Charan Singh formed government in 1967. It was then known as Samyukta Vidhayak Dal government. He has also served as state minister handling the portfolio of industries in Ram Naresh Yadav’s government in 1977.

When Chief Minister, Kalyan Singh, became embroiled in several controversies the party chose Ram Prakash Gupta as their leader in 1999, a politician with low key profile. But his term as CM too was short-lived. Uttar Pradesh has never got a CM who has ruled 5 years continuously without any break since the formation of state in 1950, and Ram Prakash Gupta too was not an exception. Only exception in this case is UP’s youngest CM Akhilesh Yadav who managed to complete a term of 5 years without any break, and it happened in 2012 after 33 sworn in ceremonies happened.

Published: July 23, 2018

Updated: July 23, 2018