Desai ministry

For Desai's period as Chief Minister of Bombay State, see Desai ministry (Bombay State).

The Morarji Desai ministry was formed on 24 March 1977 following the 1977 Indian general election. Morarji Desai led the Janata Party to victory against the Congress party. Upon taking office, Morarji Desai became the first Indian Prime Minister not belonging to the Congress party.^[1]

Morarji Desai ministry
9th Ministry of the Republic of India
Date formed	24 March 1977 (1977-03-24)
Date dissolved	28 July 1979 (1979-07-28)
People and organisations
Head of state	Basappa Danappa Jatti (Acting) (until 25 July 1977) Neelam Sanjiva Reddy (from 25 July 1977)
Head of government	Morarji Desai
Member party	Janata Party (Janata alliance)
Status in legislature	Majority 295 / 542 (54%)
Opposition party	Indian National Congress (Congress Alliance)
Opposition leader	Yashwantrao Chavan (1 July 1977 – 11 April 1978; from 10 July 1979) C. M. Stephen (12 April 1978 – 9 July 1979) (Lok Sabha)
History
Election	1977
Outgoing election	1980
Legislature terms	2 years, 4 months and 4 days
Predecessor	Third Indira Gandhi ministry
Successor	Charan Singh ministry

Cabinet

Portfolio	Minister	Took office	Left office	Party		Remarks
Prime Minister And also in-charge of all other important portfolios and policy issues not allocated to any Minister.	Morarji Desai	24 March 1977	28 July 1979		JP
Deputy Prime Ministers	Charan Singh	24 January 1979	16 July 1979		JP
	Jagjivan Ram	24 January 1979	16 July 1979		JP
Minister of Shipping and Transport	Morarji Desai	24 March 1977	14 August 1977		JP	Prime Minister was responsible.
Minister of Home Affairs	Charan Singh	26 March 1977	1 July 1978		JP
	Morarji Desai	1 July 1978	24 January 1979		JP	Prime Minister was responsible.
	Hirubhai M. Patel	29 January 1979	28 July 1979		JP
Minister of Finance	Hirubhai M. Patel	26 March 1977	24 January 1979		JP
	Charan Singh	24 January 1979	16 July 1979		JP
Minister of Defence	Jagjivan Ram	28 March 1977	28 July 1979		JP
Minister of External Affairs	Atal Bihari Vajpayee	26 March 1977	28 July 1979		JP
Minister of Information and Broadcasting	L. K. Advani	26 March 1977	28 July 1979		JP
Minister of Education, Social Welfare and Culture	Pratap Chandra Chunder	26 March 1977	28 July 1979		JP
Minister of Education and Social Welfare	Rabi Ray	25 January 1979	15 July 1979		JP
Minister of Railways	Madhu Dandavate	26 March 1977	28 July 1979		JP
Minister of Commerce Minister of Civil Supplies and Cooperation	Mohan Dharia	26 March 1977	28 July 1979		JP
Minister of Energy	P. Ramachandran	26 March 1977	28 July 1979		JP
Minister of Law, Justice and Company Affairs	Shanti Bhushan	26 March 1977	28 July 1979		JP
Minister of Works, Housing, Supply and Rehabilition	Sikander Bakht	26 March 1977	28 July 1979		JP
Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Minister of Labour	Ravindra Varma	26 March 1977	28 July 1979		JP
Minister of Steel and Mines	Biju Patnaik	26 March 1977	15 July 1979		JP
Minister of Communications	Parkash Singh Badal	26 March 1977	27 March 1977		SAD
	George Fernandes	27 March 1977	6 July 1977		JP
	Brij Lal Verma	6 July 1977	28 July 1979		JP
Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation	Purushottam Kaushik	26 March 1977	15 July 1979		JP
Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation	Parkash Singh Badal	28 March 1977	17 June 1977		SAD
	Surjit Singh Barnala	18 June 1977	28 July 1979		SAD
Minister of Health and Family Welfare	Raj Narain	28 March 1977	1 July 1978		JP
	Morarji Desai	1 July 1978	24 January 1979		JP	Prime Minister was responsible.
Minister of Industry	Brij Lal Verma	28 March 1977	6 July 1977		JP
	George Fernandes	6 July 1977	15 July 1979		JP
Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers	Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna	28 March 1977	29 March 1977		JP	Renamed as Petroleum, Chemicals and Fertilizers.
Minister of Petroleum, Chemicals and Fertilizers	Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna	29 March 1977	15 July 1979		JP

See also

• Premiership of Morarji Desai