Manmohan Singh

Singh led India's United Progressive Alliance for ten years without being its party leader, with Sonia Gandhi holding the Congress Party and the Left parties supporting from outside in the first term. That arrangement produced the national rural employment guarantee, the Right to Information Act and the food security law. He staked the government on the US civil nuclear deal in 2008 and survived the confidence vote after the Left withdrew. The second term was weighed down by corruption scandals in which allies' ministers featured heavily.