Start of career He joined the socialist movement and was elected secretary of the district
Praja Socialist Party (PSP), Ballia. Within a year, he was elected joint secretary of the PSP's State unit in Uttar Pradesh. In 1955–56, he took over as general secretary of the party in the State. His career as a parliamentarian began with his election to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh in 1962. He came under the spell of
Acharya Narendra Dev, a fiery Socialist leader at the beginning of his political career. From 1962 to 1977, Shekhar was a member of
Rajya Sabha, the Upper house of the
Parliament of India. He was elected to
Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh on 3 April 1962 as an independent candidate and completed his tenure on 2 April 1968. After this, he was re-elected twice to
Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh as an INC candidate from 3 April 1968 to 2 April 1974 and from 3 April 1974 to 2 April 1980. He resigned from
Rajya Sabha on 2 March 1977 after he had been elected to
Lok Sabha from
Ballia. When the
emergency was declared, even though he was a Congress party politician, he was arrested and sent to
Patiala jail.
Join Congress Chandra Shekhar was a prominent leader of the socialists. He joined
Congress in 1964. From 1962 to 1967, he was a member of the
Rajya Sabha. He first entered the
Lok Sabha in 1977. He came to be known as a 'young Turk' for his conviction and courage in the fight against the vested interests. The other 'young Turks', who formed the 'ginger group' in the Congress in the fight for egalitarian policies, included leaders like
Feroze Gandhi,
Satyendra Narayan Sinha,
Mohan Dharia,
Chandrajit Yadav, and
Ram Dhan. As a member of the Congress Party, he vehemently criticised Indira Gandhi for her declaration of emergency in 1975. Chandrashekhar was arrested during the emergency and sent to prison along with other "young turks".
Bharat Yatra (1983) Chandra Shekhar went on a nationwide
padayatra in 1983 from Kanyakumari to New Delhi, to know the country better, which he claimed gave jitters to Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi. He was called a "Young Turk". He travelled nearly 4,260 km and nearly six months. Chandra Shekhar started his Bharat Yatra from
Kanyakumari on 6, the same day that his party,
Janata Party was swept to power in
Karnataka. He finished his march at
Rajghat in New Delhi on 25 June, the eighth anniversary of the declaration of the
Emergency and also the day India won the
Cricket World Cup. Chandra Shekhar established Bharat Yatra Centres in various parts of the country and set up a Bharat Yatra Trust in
Bhondsi village in Haryana's Gurgaon to focus on rural development. "Bharat Yatra Kendra" "Bhondsi ashram" was set up by the Chandra Shekhar in 1983 on 600 acre of
panchayat land, where godman
Chandraswami and godman's associate
Adnan Khashoggi (a Saudi Arabian billionaire international arms dealer embroiled in various scandals) use to visit him. Before 2002, some of the government land of the ashram was taken back by the
Government of Haryana on the instructions of then Chief Minister
Om Prakash Chautala (in office 1989–91 and 1999–2004). In 2002,
Supreme Court of India returned most of the land, barring some land, to the Bhondsi
gram panchayat.
In Janata Party Chandrasekhar was jailed during the emergency and after, he became the President of
Janata Party. In the parliamentary elections,
Janata Party formed the government after the
1977 Indian general election headed by
Morarji Desai. However the party lost the 1980 elections and were routed in
1984 Indian general election winning just 10 seats and Chandrasekhar losing his own
Ballia seat to
Jagannath Chowdhary. In May 1988, he resigned from
Janata Party's President post when
Lok Dal (A) was merged with
Janata Party.
Ajit Singh was made president of
Janata Party.
George Fernandes,
Biju Patnaik,
Madhu Dandavate and
Ramakrishna Hegde opposed this merger with
Lok Dal (A) but
Subramanian Swamy,
Yashwant Sinha and
Suryadeo Singh supported this move. In 1988, his party merged with other parties and formed the government under the leadership of
V.P. Singh. Again his relationship with the coalition deteriorated and he formed another party,
Janata Dal (Socialist) faction. With the support of Congress (I) headed by
Rajiv Gandhi, he replaced V.P. Singh as the Prime Minister of India in November 1990. After 1977, he was elected to Lok Sabha in all the elections, except in 1984 when the Congress swept the polls after Indira Gandhi's assassination. The post of Prime Minister, which he thought he genuinely deserved, eluded him in 1989 when V. P. Singh pipped him at the post and was chosen to head the first coalition government at the centre.
Deposing V. P. Singh Chandra Shekhar seized the moment and left the Janata Dal with several of his own supporters to form the
Samajwadi Janata Party/Janata Dal (Socialist). He won a confidence motion with the support of his 64 MPs and
Rajiv Gandhi, the leader of the Opposition, and was sworn in as Prime Minister. Eight Janata Dal MPs who voted for this motion were disqualified by the speaker
Rabi Ray.
In Parliament Chandra Shekhar was a member of Rajya Sabha from 1962 to 1977, 1962 to 1968 as an independent supported by Socialist Party and later as member of Congress. He was jailed during the Emergency. After his release from jail in 1977, he joined Janata Party. He was elected to Lok Sabha from
Ballia as a member of various incarnations of Janata Party in 1977, 1980, 1989, 1991, 1996, 1998, 1999, and 2004. He lost that seat only once in that span, in 1984 election. After his death, his son Neeraj Shekhar won the ensuing by-poll in 2008. == Other Ministries ==