1. Yes, Pepsu. Ever heard of that? Never mind.
Have you, like me, been for long under the mistaken impression the first non-Congress Chief Minister in India was EMS Namboodiripad in Kerala in 1957? Nope, you and I are both wrong in thinking it, though it might be technically correct if you amended the question with the phrase of a recognized political party. There was an Indian state called PEPSU (Patiala and East Punjab State Union). It was in PEPSU state that a politician named Gian Singh Rarewalla, contesting as an Independent, won, and then united all other non-Congress legislators to form the first ever non-Congress government (post-independence) and become its first non-congress Chief Minister.
The state, formed on July 15, 1948, had its first caretaker government created on August 22, 1948, with Rarewala as premier. He was later sworn in as Prime Minister in January 1949, and remained a caretaker head till May 1951. In 1951, Rarewala won elections to the PEPSU Legislative Assembly as an independent candidate from Payal, and took charge as Chief Minister on April 22, 1952.
He held office till March 5, 1953, when his government was dismissed. 2. When, and where, did, during the long uninterrupted reign of the Indian National Congress the opposition parties of our country finally decide to come together and face its juggernaut unitedly? After the Emergency? Is it not what we all believe that the first instance of opposition coming together to fight an election was in 1977.
