New Delhi, Dec. 2 -- Vishwanath Pratap Singh, leader of the National Front parliamentary party, was sworn in as the seventh Prime Minister of India by President R Venkataraman at Rashtrapati Bhavan on December 2, 1989, amid scenes of wild enthusiasm and much goodwill from all present on the occasion.

The new Prime Minister sprang a surprise by naming Devi Lal, the Haryana chief minister, as the deputy Prime Minister, and the only other member of the Union Council of Ministers to take oath with him.

The ceremony was attended by Vice President Shankar Dayal Sharma, former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, his erstwhile Cabinet colleagues, National Front chairman NT Rama Rao, West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu, Karnataka chief minister Veere...