14.8.20

Modi is longest serving non-Congress PM

 Prime Minister Narendra Modi has become the longest serving PM of non-Congress political stock, surpassing the 2,268 days that his BJP senior Atal Bihari Vajpayee had clocked in his three terms combined.

Modi, who is in the second year of his second tenure, now boasts of the fourth longest PM tenure after Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Manmohan Singh, all belonging to Congress.

Vajpayee had three terms as PM — a 16-day tenure from May 16 to June 1 in 1996, followed by a 13-month tenure from 1998-1999 and a full five-year term between 1999-2004.

Nehru, the first PM, remains the longest serving with a 17-year spell spread over three terms. His daughter Indira Gandhi was the second longest serving, holding office for 11 years from 1966 to 1977. She lost in 1977 but regained office in 1980 and held it until 1984. Manmohan Singh was in office for a decade, from 2004 to 2014. Sahasrabuddhe emphasised that Modi’s victories owed themselves largely to his rapport with the masses and said the PM’s popularity continued to rise. Among other non-BJP PMs, Morarji Desai was the third longest serving with an innings of 2 years.

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