Hyderabad, Feb 5 (IANS): Senior politician, former MP, and one of the BJP's pioneer leaders from Telangana, Chandupatla Janga Reddy passed away on Saturday morning. He was 87.

Braving the Congress wave in the 1984 parliamentary elections following Indira Gandhi's assassination, C Janga Reddy stood out as one of the only two BJP candidates who won their way to Parliament. It was also the BJP's debut in the Lok Sabha.

Incidentally, the BJP leader had trounced former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao of the Congress, from the Hanumakonda parliamentary constituency in those elections.

Reddy who was born in 1935, had his early grounding as a Jan Sangh worker. Between 1967 and 1984, he also had stints as an MLA representing the Parakal and Sayampet Assembly segments in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh Assembly.

BJP leaders, including union minister G Kishan Reddy and Telangana unit president Bandi Sanjay Kumar have condoled Janga Reddy's death.

Chief Minister Sri K Chandrasekhar Rao has mourned the death of the senior political leader and former MP. The CM conveyed his condolences to members of the bereaved family.