Chandra Shekhar Singh, aka Young Turk, was the eighth Prime Minister of India. He is the first Indian Prime Minister who never held any Government office. The Indian economic crisis of 1991 and the Assassination of former Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi plunged his government into crisis.
On Singh's death anniversary, read some lesser-known facts about the 'Young Turk'.
Born in 1927 in a Sengar Rajput family in Uttar Pradesh, he attended Allahabad University after graduating from Satish Chandra PG College. Chandra Shekhar Singh was attracted to politics from his student days and started his political career with Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia.
In 1962, he was elected to Rajya Sabha as an independent candidate from UP and began his career as a parliamentarian.
In January 1965, he joined the grand-old party Congress and became the General Secretary of the Congress Parliamentary Party in 1967. In 1968, he was re-elected to Rajya Sabha on an INC ticket from UP.
In 1969, he founded and edited 'Young Indian', which was a weekly published from Delhi. Singh was the Chairman of its Editorial Advisory Board. During the Emergency, Young Indian was closed and resumed its regular publication in February 1989.
Despite being a Congress party politician, he was sent to Patiala jail amid the emergency imposed by former PM Indira Gandhi under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act.
During his jail term, he wrote a diary that was published under the title 'Meri Jail Diary'.
After quitting Congress, he joined the Janata Party, which formed the government after the 1977 general election. The election didn't prove to be fruitful for the party, and Singh formed Janata Dal socialist faction.
With the support of Congress headed by Rajiv Gandhi, he ousted Prime Minister VP Singh in November 1990. After winning the confidence motion with 64 MPs' support, he was sworn in as the Prime Minister of India.
