Jitendra Prasada (12 November 1938 – 16 January 2001) was an Indian politician and a former vice-president of the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

. He was also the political advisor to two prime ministers of India,

Rajiv Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi (20 August 1944 – 21 May 1991) was an Indian statesman and pilot who served as the prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the Assassination of Indira Gandhi, assassination of his mother, then–prime ...

in 1991 and

P. V. Narasimha Rao Pamulaparthi Venkata Narasimha Rao (28 June 1921 – 23 December 2004) was an Indian independence activist, lawyer, and statesman from the Indian National Congress who served as the prime minister of India from 1991 to 1996. He was the first p ...

in 1994. Prasad fought Congress Party's presidential election against

Sonia Gandhi Sonia Gandhi (, ; ; born 9 December 1946) is an Indian politician. She is the longest-serving president of the Indian National Congress, a big-tent liberal political party, which has governed India for most of its post-independence history. ...

on 9 November 2000 but was defeated. He died on 16 January 2001 in New Delhi following a cerebral haemorrhage.

Personal life

Jitendra Prasada was born to Kunwar Jyoti Prasada and Pamela Devi at Shahjahanpur on 12 November 1938. His grandmother Purnima Devi was the niece of

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

and mother Pamela Devi belonged to the royal family of

Kapurthala State Kapurthala State, was a kingdom and later princely state of the Punjab Province (1849–1947), Punjab Province of British India. Ruled by Ahluwalia Sikh rulers, spread across . According to the 1901 census the state had a population of 314,341 a ...

. He was educated at Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences. Other institutes include Sherwood College,

Nainital Nainital (Kumaoni language, Kumaoni: ''Naintāl''; ) is a town and headquarters of Nainital district of Kumaon division, Uttarakhand, India. It is the judicial capital of Uttarakhand, the Uttarakhand High Court, High Court of the state being ...

, Colvin Taluqdars College, Lucknow. He married Kanta Prasada on 27 January 1973. This couple has son, Jitin Prasada and a daughter, Jahnavi Prasada. The family of Jitendra Prasada resides at Prasad Bhawan, Shahjahanpur.

Political career

Prasad entered

politics Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

as a member of

Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Parishad The Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council also known as Vidhan Parishad is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of Uttar Pradesh, a state in India. Uttar Pradesh is one of the six states in India, where the state legislature is bicameral, c ...

in 1970. He was elected to the

5th Lok Sabha The 5th Lok Sabha (15 March 1971 — 18 January 1977) was elected during February–March 1971.The term of the House was extended two times by one year at a time. However, the House was dissolved after having been in existence for a period of ...

in 1971 from Shahjahanpur constituency. He was re-elected to the Lok Sabha in 1980 and 1984 from the same constituency. He was a member of the

Rajya Sabha Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...

from 1994 to 1999. He was again elected to the 13th Lok Sabha in 1999 from Shahjahanpur constituency.

Posts held

*President, Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee since 5 January 1995 *Vice-president, AICC, June 1997 to April 1998 *Chairman, Co-operative Bank, Shahjahanpur *Vice-chairman, Jawaharlal Nehru Centenary Celebration Committee *Cabinet Secretariat; General Secretary, AICC, 1985 *Political Secretary to Rajiv Gandhi, (Congress President) *Political Secretary to P.V. Narasimha Rao, (Congress President) *Member, Indian delegation to the United Nations General Assembly, 1983 *Member, Congress Working Committee, 1992 and 1997 *Member, Estimates Committee, 1980–82 *Member, Committee of Privileges, 1994–96 *Member, Committee on Home Affairs, 1995–97 *Member, Committee on Commerce *Member, Committee on Public Undertakings *Member, Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Commerce

Notes

External links

Biographical sketch from Parliament of India records
1938 births 2001 deaths People from Shahjahanpur Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences alumni India MPs 1971–1977 India MPs 1980–1984 India MPs 1984–1989 India MPs 1999–2004 Rajya Sabha members from Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh MLAs 1969–1974 Lok Sabha members from Uttar Pradesh Members of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council Indian National Congress politicians from Uttar Pradesh Presidents of Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee {{UttarPradesh-INC-politician-stub