Desai's Defeat

In quest of a new government

" A situation has been reached where only God can save the country." So saying, Y.B. Chavan, leader of the opposition Congress Party, offered a routine parliamentary motion of no confidence in the government of India's Prime Minister Morarji Desai early this month. At the time no one took the motion very seriously. But within a few days, Desai's support in the ruling Janata Party, the five-group coalition that routed Indira Gandhi in national elections 28 months ago, had all but evaporated. Last week Desai, 83, was forced to resign, and Indian President N. Sanjiva Reddy asked Chavan to try to form a new government.

Desai's downfall had been in the making for some time. The Janata Party had never been united by anything but opposition to Gandhi. In recent weeks, disillusionment had grown over the government's failure to enforce a viable economic policy, despite huge food and foreign exchange reserves. In addition, intraparty disputes over the growing power of Jana Sangh, a right-wing Janata faction, had led to widespread defections from the alliance.

Chavan's chances of forming a coalition government seem slim; his own base of support, a branch of the divided Congress Party, holds only 77 seats in the 542-member Lok Sabha (lower house). Since no party wants a mid-term general election, the best bet at week's end was that Charan Singh, 76, the powerful leader of the new breakaway Janata (secular) Party, would be the next in line to form a government if Chavan did not succeed. If all else fails, the country could be forced to accept a weak and interim nonpartisan "national government."

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