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Founded by A O Hume in 1885,
the Indian National Congress played the most important role in pre-independence
India. Post-independence, Jawaharlal Nehru held the reins of the party as well
as the country and groomed daughter Indira Gandhi to step into his shoes. The
Indian National Congress split in 1969 into two factions led by Indira and
the-then president S. Nijalingappa. The faction led by her was recognised as the
real Congress.
Indira headed the party until her assassination by her
security guards in 1984 when her son Rajiv Gandhi took over. Rajiv who was an
unwilling entrant into politics after the death of his brother Sanjay in an air
crash, rode the sympathy wave in 1984 and formed the government with an
unprecedented majority, the kind even Nehru and Indira never received. Rajiv's
rule sparked an optimism among the electorate which was shortlived. Rajiv
Gandhi was raring to return. But mid way though the polls he was assassinated in
May at the hands of Sri Lankan LTTE militants. The mantle of the Congress
president fell on PV Narasimha Rao who formed the government at the Centre with
support from regional allies. In 1994 the party again split into two factions --
one under Narayan Dutt Tiwari while Arjun Singh formed the Congress (T).
Rao's
term of prime ministership while on the one hand saw the Indian economy
opening up under the stewardship of Finance Minister Manmohan Singh,
politically, the party fell to an all-time low, with corruption cases being
slapped on him, his ministers and senior Congress leaders. Hence the
electorate gave the Congress the go by and the BJP emerged as the single
largest party in the House.
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