Morarji Desai was the first Indian Prime Minister to
resign from office. He became Prime Minister of Janata Party led
fractious coalition government in 1977. He resigned in 1979, when Charan
Singh pulled out of the Janata Party.
Morarji Desai was born on February 29, 1896 in Bhadeli village of
Gujarat. Morarji Desai worked as a Deputy Collector in the then Bombay
Province from 1918 to 1930. In 1930, he resigned from the Government
service and plunged into freedom struggle. When the first Congress
Government assumed office in 1937 Morarji Desai became Minister for
Revenue, Agriculture, Forest and Co-operatives in the Ministry headed by
Shri B.G. Kher in the then Bombay Province.
In 1952, Morarji Desai became the Chief Minister of Bombay. After the
reorganisation of the States, he joined the Union Cabinet as Minister
for Commerce and Industry on November 14, 1956. Later, he took the
Finance portfolio on March 22, 1958. He was a Deputy Prime Minister in
Indira Gandhi's cabinet in 1967. He died on April 10, 1995.
