The Prime Minister is the head of the Central Goverment in India. He is the most powerful person in the administration, though the President outranks him technically. The ruling period of a prime minister is 5 years unless he had to resign after losing a trust-vote in the Lok Sabha.
The first three of the Indian prime ministers were from the Indian National Congress.
The Janata Party came in power in 1979, and Morarji Desai became the first non-Congress prime minister of India. The Congress regained power in 1981 and continued ruling India till 1989, after which the Janata Dal was in power for a few years. This was the time when Single Party rule came to a temporary end in India.
The coalition goverment of Janata Dal was outpowered by the Congress in the 1990 Elections and the Congress ministry under P. V. Narasimha Rao came to power. The 90s saw the rise of BJP as the biggest political party of the country and they ruled India for 6 years, starting from the fall of the short-lived Goverment of I.K. Gujral.
The Indian National Congress and its allies came back to power in the 2004 Elections and Dr. Manmohan Singh is expected to be the new Prime minister of India.
A List Of Indian Prime Ministers
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Jawaharlal Nehru (Indian National Congress)
Aug. 15, 1947 to May 27, 1964.
Gulzari Lal Nanda (Indian National Congress)
May 27, 1964 to June 9, 1964 (Interim).
January 11 to 24, 1966(Interim).
Lal Bahadur Shastri (Indian National Congress)
June 9, 1964 to January 11, 1966.
Indira Gandhi (Indian National Congress)
Jan. 24, 1966 to March 24, 1977.
Jan. 14, 1980 to Oct. 31,1984.
Morarji Desai (Janata Party)
March 24, 1977 to July 28, 1979.
Charan Singh (Janata Party)
July 28, 1979 to Jan. 14, 1980.
Rajiv Gandhi (Indian National Congress)
Oct. 31,1984 to Dec. 1,1989.
V. P. Singh (Janata Dal)
Dec. 2,1989 to Nov. 10, 1990.
Chandra Shekhar (Janata Dal)
Nov. 10,1990 to June 21, 1991.
P. V. Narasimha Rao (Indian National Congress)
June 21, 1991 to May 10, 1996.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee (Bharatiya Janata Party)
May 16 to June 1, 1996.
H. D. Deve Gowda (Janata Dal)
June 1, 1996 to April 21, 1997.
I. K. Gujral (Janata Dal)
April 21, 1997 to Nov. 28. 1997.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee (Bharatiya Janata Party)
March 19, 1998 to May 2004.