(Raghunath Jha)

Former Union Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprise and member of the 14th Lok Sabha (lower house of the Indian Parliament) Raghunath Jha passed away on 15th January 2018. Raghunath Jha an Indian politician belonged to the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) political party. 

Raghunath Jha was born on 9th August 1939 in Sitamarhi, India (then British India). He represented the Bettiah constituency of Bihar in the 14th Lok Sabha. He was a Member of Parliament from 2004 to 2009. He was regarded as one of the most successful politicians of Bihar because of his effort which resulted in the formation of Sheohar as a district in 1994. Sheohar was a block at that time and to recognize such a small block as a district was considered as a valiant effort. Raghunath Jha was hugely applauded for this effort. Raghunath Jha entered politics in the 1960s as a Socialist before joining the Indian National Congress (INC) party in 1972. Later he became a member of the Janata Party and later he joined Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). Raghunath Jha left Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and joined the Janata Dal (United) party. He finally again joined Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) party whose head was Lalu Prasad Yadav. 

Raghunath Jha contested assembly elections from Sheohar on Congress ticket and won it. He became a minister in the government formed by Jagannath Mishra in Bihar. Raghunath Jha represented his constituency on the ticket of Indian National Congress (INC) party in the year 1972, 1977 and 1980 and won the assembly elections each time. He won the assembly elections for the fourth time representing Sheohar on the ticket of Janata Party. 

Raghunath Jha resigned from Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and joined the Samajwadi party on 3rd September 2015 thus becoming the first MLA from this party. He passed away on 15th January 2018 at the age of 78 at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in Delhi.