The back story

• Chandra Shekhar, (Prime Minister from November 1990 – March 1991) resigned and did not face a trust vote because the Congress withdrew support from Shekhar’s government. The Congress accused Chandra Shekhar of placing Congress chief Rajiv Gandhi’s house under surveillance.

• H.D. Deve Gowda (June 1996- April 1997) who won a trust vote in 1996, lost the vote in April 1997 because the Congress headed by Sitaram Kesri withdrew support. While the immediate reasons listed by Sitaram Kesri were flimsy, the main reason, it is suspected, was that, the CBI headed by one of Gowda’s trusted lieutenants — Joginder Singh — was framing corruption charges against Kesri.

• I.K Gujral’s government (April 1997 – November 1997) fell when the Congress withdrew support from the United Front Government over the Jain Commission report. The Jain Commission report was set up to inquire into the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi and it indicted the DMK — a part of Gujral’s coalition and cabinet — for supporting the LTTE, which was responsible for Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination in May 1991. The report was tabled on November 19, 1997 and the Congress tried to pressurise Gujral to snap links with the DMK but Gujral refused to buckle under pressure. The Congress finally withdrew support on November 28, 1997.

• A.B. Vajpayee (Prime Minister from March 1998- April 1999 and October 1999- May 2004) faced a trust vote in April 1999 and lost after Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK withdrew support. While tension had been brewing for a long time and her party only needed a pretext to withdraw support, the immediate reason for Jayalalithaa withdrawing support was the sacking of naval chief, Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat by the then Defence Minister George Fernandes. Jayalalithaa also wanted the government to investigate corruption charges which Bhagwat had made against George Fernandes.

• And now, on July 8, the Left parties withdrew support to the Congress Government headed by Manmohan Singh. The Left Parties which were opposed to the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal from the very beginning decided to withdraw support when they came to know that the government would approach the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for inking an India-specific safeguards agreement, which is a precursor for operationalising the Indo-US nuclear deal.