Secretary-General A. K. Antony Founder D. Devaraj Urs Colours Red | Lok Sabha leader Sharad Pawar Founded 29 July 1978 | |
Split from Indian National Congress | ||
The Indian National Congress (Urs) was a breakaway faction of the Congress (I) led by D. Devaraj Urs. It broke away from the parent party in 1978 following Indira Gandhi's drubbing in the 1977 General Elections. Urs took with him many legislators from Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra and Goa including future Union Ministers and Chief Ministers, Yashwantrao Chavan, Dev Kant Baruah, Kasu Brahmananda Reddy, A.K. Antony, Sharad Pawar, Sarat Chandra Sinha, Priyaranjan Das Munshi and K.P. Unnikrishnan.
Subsequently Devaraj Urs joined Janata Party; Yashwantrao Chavan, Brahmananda Reddy, and Chidambaram Subramaniam joined Congress (Indira); and A.K. Antony split from Congress (Urs) to form Congress (A) in Kerala. When Sharad Pawar took over the party presidency in October 1981, the name of the party was changed to Indian Congress (Socialist).