Govind Ballabh Pant (1887-1961) was elected Premier of the United Provinces. Charan Singh regarded Pant as a father figure and referred to the period he worked with GB Pant (1946-1954) as the ‘golden period’ of his life (speech in Delhi in 1981).

He was re-elected to the UP Legislative Assembly from Meerut District (South-West). He financed his election campaign with public contributions and refused money from the wealthy, a practice that he maintained throughout his political career.

He was appointed Parliamentary Secretary in the Congress government of Govind Ballabh Pant, which had 6 Ministers and 12 Parliamentary Secretaries, including Lal Bahadur Shastri (later Prime Minister of India) and Chandra Bhanu Gupta (3-time Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and the primary political opponent of Charan Singh).
He served as Parliamentary Secretary until 1951 under the Cabinet Minister for Health and local self-government and eventually under the Premier (as the Chief Minister was called then). He also became a member of the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) and amended the UP-Tenancy Act to protect tenants from eviction and reinstate those evicted from 1 January 1940.

During this time, Charan Singh became aware of the weaknesses of the Congress organization, including upper-caste urban leadership, casteism, opposition based on personalities, self-seeking behavior, lack of unity, and oppression of the weak. He also observed the involvement of dedicated Congress workers in protests rather than focusing on understanding and solving India’s deep-rooted problems.