Minority govt precedence under Narasimha Rao

Rao's govt had survived from June 1991 to July 1993 without enjoying a majority in the Lok Sabha

Even as the stability of the Congress led UPA has become a matter of conjecture for most people, the Congress steadfastly maintains that there is “no threat to the government”. A senior Congress leader rejected talk of the UPA government becoming a “lame-duck government” in the aftermath of the pullout of the Trinamool Congress. The support of allies like BSP and SP notwithstanding, the Congress is confident that the Manmohan Singh led government will complete its full term till 2014. Its confidence is not without reason.

Speaking to Business Standard the senior Congress leader cited the example of the Congress government under the late PV Narasimha Rao. “The Narasimha Rao government had lasted three years with a minority government. A point to be noted is that all crucial economic reform decisions were taken during that time. India's economic liberalisation was held during that period. So there is no imminent danger to the government.”

The Narasimha Rao government had survived from June 1991 to July 1993 without enjoying a majority in the Lok Sabha. The Congress had won 232 seats in the 1991 Lok Sabha polls and its ally the AIADMK, had won 11, rendering the coalition well short of a majority. It was only when a no-confidence motion was moved against the government  in July 1993 that the assembled new allies like Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal and the JMM, remembered more for the infamous 'JMM bribery case'.
Incidentally, senior SP leader Mohan Singh jokingly too referred to the Narasimha Rao era telling a news channel that the suicidal streak of reforms that the Congress had unleashed then has come full circle now under Manmohan Singh, displaying a similar suicidal tendency.