Vishwanath Pratap Singh Biography

Vishwanath Pratap Singh or V.P.Singh, the 10th Prime Minister of India, brought an upheaval in Indian politics by defeating the Congress in the 1989 elections. Due to problems with the then Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi, regarding the Bofors scandal, he left the Congress party. He was sworn in as the Prime Minister of India on December 2, 1989.

Vishwanath Pratap Singh was born on June 25, 1931, in Allahabad. After completing his education in Allahabad and Pune, he became a member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly. In 1971 he was elected to the Lok Sabha and appointed as the deputy minister by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

He served in office till 1977. Then he served as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. During his Chief Ministership, he tried to bring an end to the dacoity menace in southwest Uttar Pradesh. V.P. Singh was appointed as the Finance Minister by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1984.

As the Finance Minister, he empowered the Enforcement Directorate of the Finance Ministry to take stern action to track tax evaders. When a spate of raids was carried on high profile people mainly industrialists like Dhirubhai Ambani, he was sacked from his post by Rajiv Gandhi and transferred to the Defence Ministry.

V.P.Singh was unceremoniously dismissed from the cabinet which eventually led to his resigning from the Congress and Lok Sabha. He contested the 1989 elections after assembling a coalition.

He won the elections and formed a coalition government at the centre. V.P. Singh was sworn in as the Prime Minister in 1990 after he lost a vote of no-confidence in the Parliament.