Vazhappady K. Ramamurthy

Vazhapadi Ramamurthy (died 27 October 2002) was an Indian politician from Tamil Nadu. He served as Union Minister of Petroleum as part of NDA government under Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Ramamurthy came to politics through the Dravidar Kazhagam (DK) founded by the late Periyar E. V. Ramasamy. He was an ardent follower of the late K Kamaraj and E. V. K. Sampath. He belonged to the Vanniyar community.,

He served as the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president. During 1969-71 He was the President, Youth Congress, Distt. Salem, Tamil Nadu. In 1989 he was appointed as the President, Pradesh Congress Committee (Indira), Tamil Nadu by Rajiv Gandhi.

Ramamurthy was elected as a member of the Lok Sabha six times and was defeated once, in 1996. He was involved with the International Labour Organisation and served as minister of state for Labour with independent charge in the Congress government led by P. V. Narasimha Rao for a brief period in 1991. He quit his ministerial post on the Cauvery issue.

He was president of the TNCC for six years before being replaced in 1996 when he formed the Tamil Nadu unit of the Tiwari Congress. Ramamurthy went back to the Congress but left that party again to form Tamizhaga Rajiv Congress (TRC). He was part of NDA and become Union Minister of Petroleum. In January 2002 he merged TRC with the congress after a break of about eight years.

Associated with various trade unions and workers' organisations:

He was Member of Parliament elected from Tamil Nadu. He was elected to the Lok Sabha as an Indian National Congress candidate from Dharmapuri constituency in 1977 election and from Krishnagiri constituency in 1984, 1989 and 1991 elections. He was elected from Krishnagiri constituency as an Indian National Congress (Indira) candidate in 1980 election. He was elected from Salem constituency as an Independent candidate in 1998 election.

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