Chandra Shekhar split the Janata Dal after the BJP withdrew its
support to the V P Singh government following the crackdown on L K
Advani's rath yatra. He took 58 MPs with him and with the support of
Rajiv Gandhi, formed the government with himself as the PM.
Chandra Shekhar began his career as a political worker in eastern
Uttar Pradesh. He held several key posts in the Praja Socialist Party
in the early 1950s. He moved to the Congress after he was elected
to the Rajya Sabha in 1962 and was general secretary of the
Congress Parliamentary Party in 1967. In the Congress, he was the
leader of the group of left-leaning party members known as the
Young Turks. Chandra Shekhar quit the Congress and became
involved in Jayaprakash Narayan's movement to fight corruption and
was the president of the Janata Party when it came to power in
1977. He became well-known for organising a padyatra from Kanya
Kumari to Kashmir, focussing on the issue of corruption. During his
short tenure of eight months as PM, Chandrashekhar saw the Gulf
War, during which the government organised one of the biggest
evacuation of people from the war-affected area back to India. This
war also proved to be an embarrassment for the government when it
allowed American combat aircraft to refuel at Mumbai airport.
Chandrashekhar's tenure ended when the Congress withdrew its
support to his government after two police constables were found
allegedly "spying" on Rajiv Gandhi's residence.