India to get its 10th coalition govt in 20 years

NEW DELHI: When Manmmohan Singh assumes office as Prime Minister for the second consecutive term likely this week India will have its tenth successive coalition government in 20 years.

The seeds of coalition governance was sworn for the first time in 1989 in a country where until then a single party rule of Congress dominated the political landscape at the Centre since Independence except during the Janata experiment between 1977 and 1979.

In the 1989 elections, although incumbent prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and Congress won more seats than any other single party, he was unable to form a government with a clear majority.

The Janata Dal, a union of opposition parties, was able to form a government with the help of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Left parties.

This loose coalition collapsed in November 1990, and the government was controlled for a short period by a breakaway Janata Dal group supported by Congress (I), with Chandra Shekhar as Prime Minister. That alliance also collapsed, resulting in national elections in June 1991.