The Janata Party alliance came into power in the 1977 general elections amidst public anger with the Indian National Congress (R) and the Emergency.

However, its position was weak; the loose coalition barely held on to a majority with only 295 seats in the Lok Sabha and never quite had a firm grip on power.

Bharatiya Lok Dal leaders Charan Singh and Jagjivan Ram, who had quit the Congress, were members of the Janata alliance but were at loggerheads with Prime Minister Morarji Desai.

Charan Singh, forced to resign, called for elections in January 1980 and is the only prime minister of India never to have obtained the confidence of Parliament.

In the run up to the general elections, Indira Gandhi's leadership faced a formidable political challenge from a galaxy of regional satraps and prominent leaders of Janata party like Satyendra Narayan Sinha and Karpuri Thakur in Bihar, Ramakrishna Hegde in Karnataka, Sharad Pawar in Maharashtra, Devi Lal in Haryana & Biju Patnaik in Orissa.