The Bharatiya Jana Sangh came in to existence in 1951. By the time it had no unit in Orissa. Its foundation was established in Orissa in 1964 with the visit of Pandit Dindayal Upadhyay, the National President of the party. On this occasion, in a public meeting at Jharsuguda, he assigned organisational functions to Hon'ble Kushabhau Thakre and Hon'ble Sridhar Acharya . Thus Thakreji and Acharyaji took the charge of Observer and Organisation Secretary respectively for the state of Orissa. Thakreji with other leaders promisingly started organisational work from Western Orissa. Thus during 1971 Jana Sangha had already started its work at Jharsuguda, Sambalpur, Balasore, and Cuttack and in the same year it took part in the election in Lamp (Deepa) Symbol.
In 1975 ‘Emergency' was promulgated in the country and the leaders of opposition parties were arrested and sent to prison. Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi continued her reign of terror in the plea of maintenance of law and order. During this time Bharatiya Jana Sangha tried too much for reinstating democracy in the country and fought against the dictatorship of Smt. Gandhi . In the post-emergency election to Orissa Legislative Assembly four Bharatiya Jana Sangha leader were elected. They were Sri Biswa Bhusan Harichandan, Sri Bimbadhar Kuanr , Sri Purusottam Nayak and Sri Khirod Chandra Swain from Chilika, Bhatli Bangiriposhi and Ramcandrapur constituencies respectively . The then Government could not complete the full tenure due to the question of dual membership.
