Indian President Shankar Dayal Sharma asked ousted Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda on Saturday to remain as caretaker leader after his 10-month-old government fell in a parliamentary vote of confidence.
Deve Gowda tendered his resignation and that of his government after the lower house of Parliament voted 292 to 158 against his center-left coalition. There were six abstentions. The results were incomplete, but the verdict was clear."The president has accepted my resignation and asked me to continue as caretaker prime minister until alternative arrangements are made," Deve Gowda told reporters as he left the presidential palace.
Deve Gowda's lopsided defeat and the president's decision not to dissolve the lower house, the Lok Sabha, cleared the way for intensive negotiations among political parties to try to cobble together a new governing majority.
The caretaker prime minister's 15-party United Front coalition and its ally-turned-foe, the Congress Party, held talks Friday to try to reach an agreement on a new leader and avert snap elections which neither camp wants.
Opinion surveys show that the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party would probably emerge strengthened from the second general elections in a year.
Bitter foes during the general election campaign last year, the United Front and Congress joined hands only to put an abrupt end to the BJP's 12-day stint in power last May.
They both accuse the BJP of favoring India's Hindu majority at the expense of the Muslim minority.
But Congress President Sitaram Kesri abruptly withdrew support for Deve Gowda on March 30, accusing him of trying to push India's oldest party to the margins of politics and failing to join forces against the BJP.
Kesri had initially said he wanted Congress to lead a new coalition, but later said he only wanted Deve Gowda to go.
It was unclear whether Congress would agree to follow another United Front leader or whether the strained relations between the two camps, particularly between Kesri and Deve Gowda, would permit a compromise to avert fresh elections.
But Parliament temporarily set aside political differences to agree to pass the Finance Bill and a vote-on-account to permit government spending beyond May 31, which was threatened by political uncertainty.