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Great Assurance. Ram had hoped that he would swing the balance of power in a tight race; as it turned out, the Janata Party was so successful that it did not need the votes of his Congress for Democracy to form a government. Behind the scenes, as the winners pondered the selection of a Prime Minister, a number of Janata members—especially the younger and more radical ones—favored Ram over Desai. To avoid an open and divisive fight, the Janata leadership asked J.P. Narayan and a colleague, J.B. Kripalani, 88, to take a private poll of the membership.
At that point, precisely the kind of feuding that Indians had feared broke out. Charan Singh, the leader of a Janata faction, wrote Narayan that he would refuse to serve in the Cabinet under Ram. Singh had cooperated with Ram during the campaign; apparently he changed sides in an effort to block the rise of one of Ram's closest colleagues in Uttar Pradesh. That was a strong indication to Narayan that Desai had the votes to win, and so Desai's selection was announced to party members at an afternoon meeting. Ram was furious and boycotted the session. That evening, however, he appeared on a platform with Desai and nailed the new Prime Minister's accession as "a golden chapter in Indian history."
At the afternoon ceremony, Narayan had been too frail to talk, so it was Kripalani who announced the selection of Desai as cheers filled the hall. "Usually I don't feel very emotional," Desai told his party colleagues. "This time I am overwhelmed because of the burden I will bear." He then promised Narayan to "act according to your advice"—no easy commitment, since the unpredictable Narayan had said he would feel free to attack the government when necessary. Narayan, removing his glasses to wipe tears from his eyes, was overcome by Desai's promise. In what might prove to be a moving farewell to a 47-year political career, he told Desai, "I am younger than you by a few years, but will leave earlier than you. I am sick and may not live long. But I am happy I will go with this great assurance."
By almost any lights, Morarji Desai is an unlikely choice for a national leader. A native of Gujarat, he is a deeply religious and autocratic puritan who started his career as a civil servant under the British Raj. He rose to become the unbending and prohibitionist Chief Minister of what was then Bombay state. Partly because of his administrative skills—and partly because his zeal against liquor, prostitution and corruption had earned him a number of enemies—Jawaharlal Nehru later moved him to a Cabinet post in Delhi. Desai tried twice before to become Prime Minister, and served Indira Gandhi as both Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister until he broke with her in 1969; thereafter he led the Opposition Congress Party until the founding of the Janata Party two months ago.