VP Singh: his life & times.

Deepak Razdan NEW DELHI, Nov. 29: Former Prime Minister VP Singh, who was cremated today, will be remembered most for introducing an OBC quota in government jobs during his 11-month tenure as premier from 2 December 1989. However, this is not what people thought he would do when he took over as the Janata Dal leader to challenge the then mighty Congress led by Rajiv Gandhi. As defence minister in the Rajiv government, Singh questioned the Bofors gun deal and raised suspicions that commissions were paid to middlemen in the transaction in violation of government rules. This was enough for Third Front forces to end their search for a new leader whom they could project as cleaner …