Singh Backed as India’s New Prime Minister : Politics: He vows to ‘restore dignity and democratic institutions.’ But bitter infighting indicates that the government will be fragile.

Opposition leaders gave their unanimous support Friday to Vishwanath Pratap Singh, a former defense minister, to be the next prime minister of India. But bitter infighting that preceded the decision indicated that the new government will be a fragile one at best.

Singh, 58, who as head of the Defense Ministry blew the whistle on corruption in Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s government, was expected to be sworn in today.

It will be only the second time in India’s 42 years of independence that it has not been ruled by the party of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi. The old Establishment was turned out by the voters in a humiliating election that took place over a five-day period ending last Sunday.

Singh told reporters Friday that the first task of his government will be “to restore the dignity of the country and our democratic institutions.”

He said India’s foreign policy of nonalignment will not be changed, nor will the economic liberalization policies undertaken by his predecessor, Rajiv Gandhi.

He pledged to give autonomy to the state-run television and radio industry in an effort to curb “the growth of money power in politics.” And he said government development programs will focus on the poor.

“Today, development falls like flakes of snow upon the icy peaks of the highest mountains,” he said. “We want it to fall like raindrops to reach the people at the lowest levels.”

On the issue of official corruption, he said, “Let the law take its course.” His predecessor has been charged with helping to conceal tens of millions of dollars in bribes in connection with $1.3 billion in armaments contracts.

The issue is a sensitive one. Any attempt to prosecute or jail Gandhi, who has been named leader of the opposition, would risk creating a sympathy wave like the one that propelled his mother back to power after the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty’s only other defeat, in 1977.

In Parliament, there were shouts of “Long Live V. P. Singh” after he was unanimously elected leader of the National Front coalition, which led the electoral challenge to Gandhi and the Congress-I party.

After the meeting, National Front leaders expressed optimism for the future.

“The government will be as stable as stable can be,” said Arun Nehru, a Gandhi cousin who defected to the opposition along with Singh, who resigned from Gandhi’s Cabinet two years ago.

Madhu Dandavate, a five-term opposition legislator who served in the Cabinet of the last non-dynasty government, said, “Nobody wants the corrupt government of Rajiv Gandhi to come back, so no opposition party will take the risk of pulling this government down.”

But most analysts said the National Front, which controls only 145 of the more than 500 seats in Parliament and will have to count on the support of parties on the extreme left and extreme right, will be inherently unstable, and may have to face new elections as early as next year.

“If you ask me on the record how long this government will last, I’d say it will last for as long as the people of India want it to last,” a member of Singh’s party, the Janata Dal, told a reporter. “Off the record, I give it three months.”

Illustrating the fragmentation of loyalties, a fight broke out Friday morning outside the residence of Chadra Shekhar, a member of Singh’s party but a rival for the post of prime minister. The fighting started when Shekhar’s supporters attacked a prominent human rights advocate, Ram Jethmalani, who was engaged in a hunger strike outside Shekhar’s gate in an effort to persuade him to retire in favor of Singh.

After Singh was selected, Shekhar told reporters he had not given up his candidacy for the party leadership. He said he had been tricked into supporting Singh.

“The future of India,” he said, “is bleak.”

INDIA’S NEW MAN

* Vishwanath Pratap Singh, 58, is popularly known as “V.P.” or “the Rajah.”

* The adopted scion of a minor princely family, he donated a large part of the family estates to the landless.

* Rajiv Gandhi’s former finance and defense minister, he quit in April, 1987 amid a furor over his probe into alleged defense payoffs.

* Expelled that summer from Gandhi’s Congress-I party, he founded a new party, the Jan Morcha, and won a special election in his hometown in June, 1988, campaigning on the corruption issue.

* The victory persuaded two main opposition groups, the Janata Party and Lok Dal, to merge with Singh’s in late 1988 to create the Janata Dal, with him as the single presidental candidate.

* Singh, now the leader of the National Front alliance, is named India’s prime minister.