Chandra Shekhar
Chandra was born in Ibrahimpatti, a small village in India. He did his M.A. from Allahabad university.
In the 50's Acharya Narendra Dava, one of the thinkers, politicians and educationalists of his time inspired Chandra Shekhar. He was a member of Praja Socialist Party before he joined the ruling Congress Party in 1964. In the late 60's he led a pressure group which came to be known as "Young Turks" and in 1970 launched a weekly called "Young India" to influence the Congress to adopt left-of-the centre policies.
He was a member the Rajya Sabha, from 1962 to 1967, and he held a seat in the Lok Sabha, in 1977-79, 1980-84, and from 1989 until he became Prime Minister. Shekhar was one of the people who left the Congress Party of Mrs.Indira Gandhi during the black days of Emergency, which Mrs. Gandhi had proclaimed due to political reasons.

In 1977 Shekhar became president of the Janata Party, which headed a coalition government under Prime Minister Morarji Desai from 1977 to 1979. In 1988 Shekhar's Janata Party merged with several other opposition parties to form the Janata Dal Party under the leadership of VP Singh, who subsequently became Prime Minister. After leading an internal rebellion against Singh, Shekhar broke with the Janata Dal Party on Nov. 5, 1990, and quickly formed the Janata Dal-Socialist faction. With the support of Rajiv Gandhi's Congress (I) Party, he replaced Singh as India's Prime Minister on Nov. 10, 1990, as the head of a weak minority government. He resigned the office on March 6, 1991, after the Congress (I) Party withdrew its support, but he remained in office as a caretaker until national legislative elections could be held in May and June. At present Chander Shekhar is a Member of Parliament from Lok Sabha in India.


Back to Politicians
        © 2000 lokpriya.com. All rights reserved.