New Delhi, June 22: Sunder Singh Bhandari, one of the four founders of the Jan Sangh ? and its latter-day avatar, the BJP? died of a heart attack this morning. The 84-year-old was governor of Bihar and later Gujarat when the National Democratic Alliance was in power.

Bhandari became a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh pracharak (whole-timer) in 1938. As BJP general secretary in charge of organisation, he presided over several elections but never contested one himself. He served two terms in the Upper House.

Bhandari was known for his austere lifestyle and never owned a house. This endeared him to the Sangh and gave him a certain moral authority in the BJP.

Members recalled how he would “tick off” senior leaders at meetings and order those junior to him to “behave” themselves when he thought they were overstepping their brief.

Bhandari helped keep the Uttar Pradesh unit together when the BJP ruled the state. Once he was sidelined in the party, the BJP’s troubles began in the state.

It was on the basis of his report as Bihar governor that the Vajpayee government had sacked the Rabri Devi ministry in 1999. It had to bactrack after the President of the day, K.R. Narayanan, sent the order back.

As Gujarat governor during the riots, he was criticised for doing nothing to stop the bloodshed. In belated atonement last month, he slammed the Modi government for treating the violence “lightly”.