Dilip Ramanbhai Parikh (16 February 1937 – 25 October 2019) was an Indian politician and industrialist. He was the 13th

Chief Minister of Gujarat The Chief Minister of Gujarat is the chief executive of the government of the Indian state of Gujarat. The governor appoints the chief minister, whose council of ministers are collectively responsible to the assembly. The chief minister's term ...

from 28 October 1997 to 4 March 1998.

Early life

Parikh was born in 1937 in

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

(now Mumbai). He received BA in Economics from

Elphinstone College Elphinstone College is one of the constituent colleges of Dr. Homi Bhabha State University, a state cluster university. Established in 1823, it is one of the oldest colleges in Mumbai. It played a major role in shaping and developing the ed ...

. He studied law as well. He had a plastic manufacturing business. He served as the President of Gujarat State Plastic Manufacturers' Association in 1973–74. In 1979, he led the association of plastic and rubber industries in the state. He served as the president of the Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the 1980s.

Political career

In 1990, Parikh entered politics and served as the Vice President of the State Committee of

Bharatiya Janata Party 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 Modi ...

(BJP). He contested and won 1990 and 1995 Gujarat legislative assembly elections from Dhandhuka constituency as a candidate of BJP. BJP won majority in 1995 election and formed government headed by Chief Minister

Keshubhai Patel Keshubhai Patel (24 July 192829 October 2020) was an Indian politician who was the Chief Minister of Gujarat in 1995 and from 1998 to 2001. He was a six-time member of Gujarat Legislative Assembly. He was a member of RSS since 1940s, of Bharatiya ...

. Patel resigned in October 1995 following revolt of his colleague

Shankersinh Vaghela Shankersinh Laxmansinhji Vaghela (born 21 July 1940) is an Indian politician and former Chief Minister of Gujarat. He was the Leader of Opposition in 13th Gujarat Legislative Assembly. Vagela started his political career with the Jana Sangh, w ...

and consequently,

Suresh Mehta Suresh Mehta (born 5 August 1936) is an Indian politician and former Chief Minister of Gujarat from 1995 to 1996. Biography Early life Suresh Mehta was born on 5 August 1936 at Mandvi, Cutch State (now in Kachchh District, Gujarat, India). P ...

was sworn in as the Chief Minister in October 1995 and he served until September 1996. Parikh was the minister of industries in the cabinet headed by Mehta. In 1996, when Vaghela split the BJP and formed the

Rashtriya Janata Party Rashtriya Janata Party was a political party in Gujarat, India. It was a splinter group of Bharatiya Janata Party. This group was led by Shankersinh Vaghela and Dilip Parikh. It was later dissolved and its leaders joined the Indian National Congre ...

, he joined RJP which formed the minority government with support of the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

(INC) and Vaghela became the Chief Minister on 23 October 1996. A year later INC threatened to withdraw its support on 20 October 1997. A week later the compromise was reached as a change of Chief Minister. Vaghela stepped down and Parikh was sworn in as a Chief Minister by governor

Krishna Pal Singh Krishna Pal Singh (10 January 1922 – 27 September 1999) was an Indian activist, politician and a former governor of Gujarat. His career began in the 1940s and ended in the 1990s. Early life In high school, he organized many student agitation ...

in 1997. In 182 members

Gujarat Legislative Assembly Gujarat Legislative Assembly or Gujarat Vidhan Sabha is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of Gujarat, in the state capital Gandhinagar. Presently, 182 members of the Legislative Assembly are directly elected from single-member cons ...

, there were only 46 RJP members while there were 44 INC, 76 BJP and 15 Independents members. Thus minority government by outside support of the INC resulted in the instability. He submitted his resignation to Gujarat Governor Krishna Pal Singh and called for the fresh assembly election on 5 January 1998 but continued as a caretaker Chief Minister till 4 March 1998. He lost to the BJP candidate Bharat Pandya in

Dhandhuka Dhandhuka is a city and a municipality in the Ahmedabad district in the state of Gujarat, India. Moreover, it is a part of the Bhal region. Dhandhuka is said to have been founded by, and to take its name from, Koli Dhana Mer, or rather Mehd, th ...

by a margin of over 15000 votes in 1998 Gujarat legislative assembly election while RJP won only four seats. BJP regained power with 117 seats out of 182 seats assembly. He later joined INC and afterwards retired from the politics. He died on 25 October 2019 in

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ; Gujarati: Amdavad ) is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 (per t ...

after a surgery following a fall a few days previous. His body was cremated at

Thaltej Thaltej is a census town and a suburb in Ahmedabad district in the Indian state of Gujarat. The town comes under Ward No:8, North West Zone of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, the civic body that governs the City of Ahmedabad. Geography Thalt ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parikh, Dilip Chief Ministers of Gujarat 1937 births 2019 deaths Gujarat MLAs 1995–1998 Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Gujarat Rashtriya Janata Party politicians Indian industrialists Elphinstone College alumni Politicians from Ahmedabad Politicians from Mumbai Gujarat MLAs 1990–1995 Indian National Congress politicians from Gujarat