Banwarilal Purohit

Later he joined Congress. After Indira Gandhi split Congress Party and formed Congress (Indira), Purohit was elected as MLA from Nagpur East constituency in 1978, contesting as member of Congress(I), and he was re-elected in 1980 from Nagpur South and became a Minister of State for Urban Development, Slum Improvement and Housing in 1982.

In 1984, he was elected to the 8th Lok Sabha as member of Congress Party.[11] He was re-elected in 1989 on Congress ticket.

Later he joined Bharatiya Janata Party when it launched a movement to build Ram Temple in Ayodhya and contested Lok Sabha elections in 1991 as the party's candidate. But he lost to Datta Meghe of Indian National Congress. In 1996, he was elected to 11th Lok Sabha as BJP's candidate.

In 1999, he quit the Bharatiya Janata Party to join the Indian National Congress after he developed serious differences with Pramod Mahajan. He contested the Lok Sabha elections from Ramtek in 1999 but lost.

In 2003, he launched his own party called Vidarbha Rajya Party and contested the Lok Sabha elections from Nagpur in 2004.

In 2009 he again contested on BJP's ticket but lost the election to Vilas Muttemwar of Indian National Congress.

In August 2016, Purohit was appointed as Governor of Assam by replacing Padmanabha Acharya who had additional in-charge of Assam.[12][13][14]

On 30 September 2017 he was appointed as Governor of Tamil Nadu by President Ram Nath Kovind. It was the first time that the state has got a full time governor after K Rosaiah retired in August 2016.

Purohit gained ownership of the Nagpur daily newspaper The Hitavada from Servants of India Society in 1979. The newspaper was launched by Gopal Krishna Gokhale in 1911 and Purohit is its current managing editor. He is also the chairman of Shri Ramdeobaba College of Engineering and Management in Nagpur.

Early life

His Father's name is Bhagwan das Purohit and he has two sons Rajesh Purohit and Rakesh Purohit . He is also the chairman of Bhavans Bhagwan das Purohit Vidya Mandir Nagpur . He is one of the most respected persons in the country without any bad records . He is also the vice-chairman of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan schools founded by late Kanaiyalal Maneklal Munshi in 1938.