It's a hat-trick for the Congress

The Congress is now going down in history as a party that is making a habit of withdrawing support to a government at the Centre, that it helps install in the first place.This is the third time since Independence that the Congress has pulled the rug from under a government's feet.

In the past it brought down two governments formed with its support from outside. In 1979 it was Chaudhary Charan Singh's government that it left on the limb. The Congress struck again in 1991 when it withdrew support to Chandra Shekhar's government.

After the general election in May last year, the Congress agreed to lend a helping hand to the 13-party United Front government, headed by H D Deve Gowda, that came into office on June 1, 1996.

Today, not even 10 months later, in a dramatic development, the Congress withdrew its support to this government... and the third government in Indian political history.

Significantly, when the Deve Gowda government came into power last year, the then Congress president and its parliamentary party leader, P V Narasimha Rao, announced, "This government will not fall because of the Congress.''

The situation did, of course, undergo a sea change after Rao was replaced both as Congress president and Congress Parliamentary Party leader by Sitaram Kesri.

Under Kesri, the Congress Working Committee converted the unconditional support to the UF government, offered earlier to an issue-based one.

And Sunday's developments proved that this government did fall because of the Congress.