Singh, V(ishwanath) P(ratap)

Singh, V(ishwanath) P(ratap)
▪ 2009

      Indian politician

born June 25, 1931, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, British India

died Nov. 27, 2008, New Delhi, India
was prime minister (Dec. 2, 1989–Nov. 10, 1990) of India at the head of a coalition government formed of parties that opposed the powerful Congress (I) Party. Singh studied at Allahabad and Pune (Poona) universities and in 1969 became a Congress Party member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly. He won election to the Lok Sabha (lower house of Parliament) in 1971. He held several posts under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, including deputy minister of commerce (1974), minister of commerce (1976–77, 1983–84), and chief minister (governor) of Uttar Pradesh (1980–82). Upon Gandhi's death in 1984, her son and successor as prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, appointed Singh minister of finance. Singh's efforts to reduce governmental regulation of business and to prosecute tax fraud attracted widespread praise. He was transferred to the post of minister of defense in January 1987, but he resigned later that year after his investigations of arms-procurement fraud were squelched. Soon afterward, Singh resigned from the government altogether and left Gandhi's Congress (I) Party. He assembled a coalition of centrist opposition parties called the National Front, which challenged Congress (I) in the 1989 general elections. As the leader of the victorious National Front, Singh formed a coalition government with two other major opposition parties, but the coalition was riven by disputes having to do with religious and caste issues. Less than a year later, he lost a vote of confidence in Parliament and resigned. He later was one of the forces behind the broad United Front coalition that governed the country in 1996–97.

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Universalium. 2010.

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