Biswabhusan Harichandan (born 3 August 1934) is an Indian politician serving as the 2nd and current

Governor of Andhra Pradesh This is a list of governors of Andhra, including Andhra State and United Andhra Pradesh, in office from 1953 to the present date. The official residence of the governor is the Raj Bhavan, situated in Vijayawada. E. S. L. Narasimhan is the lo ...

Life and career

Harichandan joined Bharatiya Jana Sangha in 1971 and became its National Executive Member and its State General Secretary until the formation of

Janata Party The Janata Party ( JP, lit. ''People's Party'') was a political party that was founded as an amalgam of Indian political parties opposed to the Emergency that was imposed between 1975 and 1977 by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of the Indian Nati ...

in 1977. During the era of emergency he was detained under the MISA Act. After the formation of

BJP The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Mo ...

in 1980, he was appointed the President of the state until 1988 before he joined hands with

Janata Dal Janata Dal (“People’s Party”) was an Indian political party which was formed through the merger of Janata Party factions, the Lok Dal, Indian National Congress (Jagjivan), and the Jan Morcha united on 11 October 1988 on the birth annive ...

. He went back to BJP in 1996. Harichandan was elected to the Odisha State Legislative Assembly five times. Beginning from 1977 assembly elections from Chilika assembly as a member of

, he came back to power in 1990 with a

ticket. Harichandan was elected for the third time, this time from Bhubaneswar Central seat in the by-poll elections of 1997, and continued to be a member from the same constituency three times in a row. He was also a cabinet minister in the BJD-

led coalition government in 2004. In July 2019, he was appointed the 23rd Governor of

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

Personal life

On 17 November 2021, Harichandan was diagnosed with

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...

Awards

Harichandan was awarded the Kalinga Ratna Award in 2021.

Books

Harichandan has authored several books some of which include ''Marubataas'', ''Mahasangramar Mahanayak'', ''Buxi Jagabandhu'', ''Paika Mutiny'' and his autobiography ''Sangarsha Sarinahin''.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Harichandan, Biswabhushan 1934 births Living people Governors of Andhra Pradesh Odia-language writers Indians imprisoned during the Emergency (India) Bharatiya Jana Sangh politicians Janata Party politicians Janata Dal politicians Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Odisha Odisha MLAs 1977–1980 Members of the Odisha Legislative Assembly People from Bhubaneswar