BJP foundation day: Know how the party was formed?

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On October 21, 1951, the foundation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which claims to be the largest party in the country, was laid. Staying at the center for the last 9 years, it has become the first non-Congress party to make a record, but the party's beginning has not been easy. BJP, which gained majority to reach the Centre, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership has also seen a phase when the party could win only 2 seats in the Lok Sabha elections. The journey of BJP started from 1951 when Dr. Shyamaprasad Mukherjee founded Bharatiya Jana Sangh in Delhi.

It was after the emergency of 1975-1977, the Jana Sangh merged with several other political parties to form the Janata Party.

It is said that the Jana Sangh Party got only 4 seats in the 1957 Lok Sabha elections, 14 in 1962, 35 in 1967. In 1977, many political parties merged with the Jana Sangh and thus it was renamed as the Janata Party.

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When the Lok Sabha elections were held after the emergency in 1977, the party won 295 seats and the government was formed at the Center under the leadership of Morarji Desai.

After the formation of the Janata Party government at the center, the party broke up due to increasing internal discord. After this discord, when the Lok Sabha elections were held in 1980, a plan was made to form a new party after the party suffered a crushing defeat. Later, the Bharatiya Janata Party was formed on April 6, 1980 under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Atal Bihari Vajpayee became its first president.