Lok Sabha Elections 2024: It is about 1977. At that time Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister. This was the first election after the imposition of emergency in the country. At that time, anti-Congress winds were blowing in the entire country. At that time people trusted the Janata Party which was formed as an alternative to the Congress. Then Janata Party won 295 out of 542 seats. This was 23 seats more than the 272 seats required for majority. Then Congress had lost 198 seats.
Janata Party won 352 seats in the 435-member Legislative Assembly.
Then 81-year-old Morarji Desai took power on 24 March 1977 as the country’s first non-Congress Prime Minister. This year, the seventh assembly elections were held in the country’s largest state Uttar Pradesh. Janata Party was also involved in this. The Janata Party won 352 seats in the 435-member Legislative Assembly.
Discussion on non-Congress Chief Minister in Uttar Pradesh
The market of political rumors remained hot from Delhi to Lucknow regarding the possibility of a non-Congress Chief Minister in Uttar Pradesh. Earlier Chaudhary Charan Singh, who was a non-Congressman, became the Chief Minister. He led Uttar Pradesh from 1967 to 1968 and from February 1970 to October 1970. After this he remained active in central politics.
It is noteworthy here that Bharatiya Lok Dal, Bharatiya Kranti Dal, Swatantra Party, Socialist Party, Bharatiya Janasandh, Congress-O, United Socialist Party etc. together formed the Janata Party.
When the discussion was going on to elect a non-Congress Chief Minister in Uttar Pradesh, Rajnath Singh, who defeated Indira Gandhi, was dominant. He was the Health Minister in the government.
Rajnath Singh went to Janata Party President Chandrashekhar and suggested the name of Ramnaresh Yadav, the first-time MP from Azamgarh, for the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. Then both of them went to Prime Minister Morarji Desai and convinced him. Ramnaresh Yadav was selected in a very quiet manner. No one was aware of this activity. On 22 June 1977, he got Delhi TEDA. He did not know why he had been called.
When he reached Delhi, a cover was given in his hand and he was asked to give it to the Governor. Then Ramnaresh Yadav was made to sit in the train going to Lucknow. When he got down at Lucknow station and was going to Raj Bhavan by rickshaw, he met the Director of All India Radio on the way and started congratulating him on becoming the Chief Minister and said that I should drop you in my car. But Ramnaresh Yadav rejected his car offer and reached Raj Bhavan by rickshaw.
The next day on 23 June 1977, he was sworn in as the tenth Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. After this he won the assembly seat of Nidhaun. On 25 February 1979, when he could not prove majority in the Legislative Assembly, he went to Raj Bhavan and resigned and went home in a rickshaw. The simplicity of Ramnaresh Yadav was also discussed.
Ramnaresh Yadav was famous as ‘Babuji’
Ramnaresh Yadav was a resident of Aundhipur village of Azamgarh. He was born on 1 July 1928. He was very popular among the people as Babuji. He left Janata Party and joined Lok Dal. After this he joined Congress. The UPA government made him the Governor of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. He resigned after his name surfaced in the Vyapam scam. He died on 22 November 2016.
