V. S. Chandralekha

V. S. Chandralekha (born 14 August 1947) is an Indian civil servant and politician who was the President of the Tamil Nadu state unit of the Janata Party, which merged into Bharatiya Janata Party on 11 August 2013. M.G. Ramachandran had appointed her as IAS the state's first-ever woman collector.[1]

V. S. Chandralekha
Born (1947-08-14) 14 August 1947
Dindigul, Madras Presidency
TitlePresident of Tamil Nadu Janata Party
Political partyJanata Party

Early life and education

Chandralekha was born on 14 August 1947 at Dindigul in the then Madras Presidency. She had her education in Madras and mastered in economics from Presidency College, Madras before joining the Indian Administrative Service.

As civil servant

Chandralekha joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1971 and served as the Sub-Collector of Chengalpattu and Cheranmahadevi from 1973 to 1975 and as General Manager, Civil Supplies Corporation & Deputy Secretary, Food from 1976 to 1980. From 1980 to 1985, she served as District Collector, first, of South Arcot and then, Madurai. She served as the Director of Rural Development, Tamil Nadu from 1985 to 1988, Chairman of Women's Development Corporation, Tamil Nadu from 1988 to 1990 and Chairman & Managing Director of Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation from 1991 to 1992. She resigned from the civil service in 1992.

Acid attack

During her stint as the MD of Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation, she opposed the divestment policies of the then Chief Minister, J. Jayalalitha due to which Chandralekha had acid thrown on her in Egmore, Chennai. The attack was made by the then Chief Minister.[2][3]

As politician

Chandralekha joined the Janata Party in 1992 after the acid attack. She served as the President of the party's Tamil Nadu unit from 1992. In 1996, she stood against Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's M. K. Stalin for the post of Mayor of the Chennai Corporation, but lost. She participated in the 2006 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections as the candidate from Mylapore constituency and came fifth, garnering only 2,897 votes. She was a close aide of Subramanian Swamy(now the BJP leader)[4]

Notes
  1. http://www.sunday-guardian.com/investigation/sasikalas-proximity-to-jaya-was-based-on-control-a-rule
  2. http://archive.tehelka.com/story_main49.asp?filename=Ne180611Erase.asp
  3. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/jayalalithaa-had-to-combat-ruthless-peer-pressure-all-her-life/articleshow/55914253.cms
  4. "Statistical Report on General Election 2006 to the Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu" (PDF). Election Commission of India.

References
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