in late 1993, rangarajan resigned as cabinet minister. in may 1995, rangarajan resigned from the primary membership of the indian national congress and along with arjun singh, n.d. tiwari, sheila dikshit and others, founded the congress(t). however, rangarajan lost his seat in the 1996 parliamentary elections during which his new party suffered a crushing defeat. in december 1997, rangarajan joined the bharatiya janata party. he won from the tiruchirapalli lok sabha constituency in 1998 and 1999 and became one of the torch-bearers of the bjp in tamil nadu. he served with distinction as the union minister for power and parliamentary affairs, holding additional charge of law, justice and company affairs, and mines, in the second vajpayee ministry from 1998 to 1999 and in the third vajpayee ministry from 1999 until his death in 2000.