Bhavurao Deshpande

{{short description|Indian politician}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2019}}

{{Use Indian English|date=January 2019}}

{{Infobox officeholder

|honorific-prefix = The Hon'ble

|name = Bhavurao Venkatrao Deshpande

|native_name =

|native_name_lang = Kannada

|honorific-suffix = MLA

|image =

|imagesize =

|smallimage =

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|order =

|office = Member, Karnataka Legislative Assembly

|term_start = 1978

|term_end = 1983

|alongside =

|succeeding =

|predecessor =

|successor =

|constituency = Hubli-Dharwad

|majority =

}}

Bhavurao Venkatrao Deshpande was a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and is considered as one of the founding fathers of the BJP in Karnataka, India.{{cite news|title=Party with a south|url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/party-with-a-south/314996/2|newspaper=Indian Express}}

He was associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh from a very young age and after completing his education, he dedicated his life to the service of the nation and propagating nationalist thought by becoming a full-time worker (Pracharak) of the RSS. He was later deputed to serve the fledgling Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the political arm of the RSS. He traveled extensively throughout Karnataka along with Jagannathrao Joshi and built the party brick by brick. He was arrested along with thousands of other Opposition leaders and workers during the Emergency.{{cite book|title=A Prisoner's Scrap-book by L.K.Advani|date=January 2002|publisher=Prabhat Prakashan|isbn=9788188322107|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_2KJwQltHvMC&q=bhaurao+deshpande&pg=RA4-PA6}} After the formation of the Janata Party, he became the General Secretary of the state unit of the party. In 1978, he was elected to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly from Hubli-Dharwad. He was one of the founding leaders of the BJP and was the state general secretary of the party, and later its vice president. He groomed many young leaders of the BJP such as B.B. Shivappa, B.S. Yeddyurappa, Ananth Kumar, K.S.Eshwarappa, Jagadish Shettar and others.{{cite news|title=Karnataka lessons for Congress and BJP|url=http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/karnataka-lessons-for-congress-and-bjp/317085/0|publisher=Indian Express}}{{cite web|title=BJP – FORGING AHEAD IN KARNATAKA|url=http://bjpkarnataka.org/about/history/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140702095810/http://bjpkarnataka.org/about/history/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=2 July 2014|website=bjpkarnataka.org}}

He died on 16 May 1984.