Desai cabinet

Prime Minister Morarji Desai (1978)

The Desai cabinet was formed in India on March 24, 1977 by Prime Minister Morarji Desai of the Janata Party (JNP). It replaced the Indira Gandhi II cabinet and remained in office until July 28, 1979, after which it was replaced by the Charan Singh cabinet . The Desai government was the first government since India gained independence on August 15, 1947, that was not formed by the Indian National Congress (INC).

After the state of emergency imposed on June 25, 1975 by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi , Desais Janata Party won the parliamentary elections in March 1977 . The previously ruling INC suffered a heavy defeat and only received 153 of the 540 seats in the Lok Sabha. The Janata Party had 270 seats.

minister

The Cabinet consisted of the following ministers:

Office	Surname	Political party	Beginning of the term of office	Term expires
prime minister	Morarji Desai	Janata party	March 24, 1977	July 28, 1979
Vice Prime Minister	Chaudhary Charan Singh	JNP	January 24, 1979	July 16, 1979
Vice Prime Minister	Jagjivan Ram	JNP	January 24, 1979	July 28, 1979
Interior minister	Chaudhary Charan Singh Morarji Desai Hirubhai M. Patel	JNP JNP JNP	March 26, 1977 July 1, 1978 January 24, 1979	June 30, 1978 January 24, 1979 July 28, 1979
Defense Minister	Jagjivan Ram	JNP	March 27, 1977	July 27, 1979
Foreign minister	Atal Bihari Vajpayee	JNP	March 26, 1977	July 28, 1979
Minister for Information and Broadcasting	Lal Krishna Advani	JNP	March 26, 1977	July 28, 1979
Minister for Agriculture and Irrigation	Parkash Singh Badal Surjit Singh Barnala	JNP SAD	March 26, 1977 June 18, 1977	June 18, 1988 July 28, 1979
Minister for Public Works, Housing and Utilities	Sikander Bakht	JNP	March 26, 1977	July 28, 1979
Minister of Law and Justice	Shanti Bhushan	JNP	March 26, 1977	July 28, 1979
Minister for Education and Social Welfare	Pratap Chandra Chunder	JNP	March 26, 1977	July 28, 1979
Railway Minister	Madhu Dandavate	JNP	March 26, 1977	July 28, 1979
Minister for Trade, Civil Supply and Cooperation	Mohan Dharia	JNP	March 26, 1977	July 28, 1979
Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation	Purushottam Kaushik	JNP	March 26, 1977	July 15, 1979
Finance minister	Hirubhai M. Patel Chaudhary Charan Singh	JNP JNP	March 26, 1977 January 24, 1979	January 24, 1979 July 16, 1979
Minister for Steel and Mining	Biju Patnaik	JNP	March 26, 1977	July 14, 1979
Energy minister	P. Ramachandran	JNP	March 26, 1977	July 28, 1979
Minister for Petroleum, Chemicals and Fertilizers	Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna	JNP	March 27, 1977	July 13, 1979
Industry Minister	Brij Lal Varma George Fernandes	JNP JNP	March 27, 1977 July 6, 1977	July 6, 1977 July 15, 1979
Communications minister	George Fernandes Brij Lal Varma	JNP JNP	March 27, 1977 July 6, 1977	July 6, 1977 July 28, 1979
Minister for Health and Family Planning	Raj Narain Morarji Desai Rabi Ray	JNP JNP JNP	March 27, 1977 June 30, 1978 January 24, 1979	June 30, 1978 January 24, 1979 July 12, 1979
Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Labor	Ravindra Varma	JNP	March 26, 1977	July 28, 1979

Web links

• All Members of Lok Sabha (Since 1952): Members Biographical Sketches on the Lok Sabha homepage
• RAJYA SABHA MEMBERS: BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 1952 - 2003 on the homepage of Rajya Sabha
• COUNCIL OF MINISTER DESAI 27.3.1977 - 28.7.1979
• Gopa Sabharwal: India Since 1947: The Independent Years , Penguin UK, 2007, ISBN 9-35214-089-3
• India: Key Ministers (rulers.org)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Elections 1977