V. Muraleedharan

Vellamvelly Muraleedharan (born 12 December 1958) is an Indian politician from Kerala and current Union Minister of State for External Affairs & Parliamentary Affairs of India since 30 May 2019.

He was the eighth State President of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Kerala.

Muraleedharan was born to Vannathanveetil Gopalan and Nampally Vellamvelly Devaki Amma on 12 December 1958 at Eranholi, Thalassery in Kannur District.

Muraleedharan was educated at Kodakkalam UP School, and thereafter at St Joseph's Higher Secondary School, Thalassery.

He is a graduate in English literature from Government Brennen College, Thalassery.

He was closely associated with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) right from his school days.

Muraleedharan began his political activities during the days of National Emergency that gripped India from June 1975 to March 1977.

In 1978 as the Taluk President, he led ABVP in Thalassery.

He became the Kannur District Secretary in 1979 and the State Joint Secretary of ABVP in 1980.

Muraleedharan shifted his activities to the RSS at Kozhikode and became a full-time worker of ABVP.

He quit his job later and was elected as the State Organizing Secretary of ABVP in 1983 at the age of 25.

During his 11 years tenure (1983–1994) as the State Organising Secretary, he worked closely with K.N. Govindacharya and Dattatraya Hosabale, who were then the successive South Zone Organising Secretaries of the ABVP.

The ABVP team during 1983–1994 at the state and national level had leaders including Ananth Kumar (Karnataka), Sushil Modi (Bihar), Jagat Prakash Nadda, (Himachal Pradesh), Muraleedhara Rao (Rajasthan), Harendra Kumar (Former All India General Secretary), Om Prakash Kohli (All India President), Professor Late Bal Apte, (All India President), Vinod Tawde and Chandrakant Patil (All India General Secretaries).

From 1987 to 1990, he also held the additional responsibility as All India Secretary of ABVP.

Muraleedharan left for Mumbai when he was appointed All India General Secretary of ABVP for the term 1994–1996.

Muraleedharan returned to Kerala in 1997 on a research project of Khadi and Village Industries Commission at Trivandrum.

In 1998, Muraleedharan married Dr. K. S. Jayasree who is currently a Sanskrit lecturer at Sree Narayana College, Nattika.

They live at Eranhipalam, Kozhikode.

The couple have no children.

Muraleedharan's formal entry into the fore of the BJP took place during the 1998 Lok Sabha elections.

He was deputed to assist Venkaiah Naidu at the BJP Central Election Control Room at New Delhi.

In 1999, Muraleedharan was appointed Vice Chairman of Nehru Yuva Kendra under Department of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India.

In 2004, Muraleedharan was appointed the National convener of NGO cell of BJP.

Thereafter in 2005, he was made the All India convener of BJP training cell.

During his tenure as the BJP Kerala Vice president (2006–2010), his major assignments were to provide ideological orientation to the party workers in Kerala as part of training cell activities and impart and oversee training to the local body members of the BJP.

He contested Loksabha election from Kozhikode Parliamentary Constituency in 2009.

In January 2010 he was elected as the State President of the Kerala BJP.

He was elected for his second term in the office in January 2013.

The Kerala BJP had a vote share of 10.8 percent in the 2014 Lok Sabha Election whereas it recorded 6.4 percent in 2009.

The total votes BJP got in the local body elections was nearly 28 Lakhs.

The 2014–2015 membership drive has expanded the party membership base from 5.75 lakhs to 20 lakhs.

In April 2018, he was elected to Rajya Sabha the upper house of Parliament.

He is the 5th ever BJP MP from Kerala.

Currently, he is the state in-charge of Andhra Pradesh BJP.

In March 2024, he was announced as the BJP candidate from the Attingal Constituency for the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections.

He was also a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament representing the state of Maharashtra.He was sworn in as a Union Minister on 30 May 2019.

On 12 June 2019, Muraleedharan was appointed Government Deputy Chief Whip in the Rajya Sabha.