national emergency. However, the Janata Party coalition was full of personal and policy friction and thus failed to achieve much, owing to continuous in-wrangling and much controversy. With no party in leadership of the coalition, rival groups vied to unseat Desai. Controversial trials of prominent Congress leaders, including Indira Gandhi over Emergency-era abuses worsened the fortunes of his administration. In 1979, Raj Narain and Charan Singh pulled out of the Janata Party, forcing Desai to resign from office and retire from politics. The chief reason for the collapse was the demand by the duo and other left-leaning members, like Madhu Limaye, Krishan Kant, and George Fernandes that no member of the Janata party could simultaneously be a member of an alternative social or political organisation. This attack on "dual membership" was directed specifically at members of the Janata Party who had been members of the Jan Sangh, and continued to be members of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the Jan Sangh's ideological parent.<ref>Lloyd I. Rudolph and Susanne H. Rudolph, In Pursuit of Lakshmi: The Political Economy of the Indian State' (1987), University of Chicago Press, pp 457–459.</ref> Retirement and death Desai campaigned for the Janata Party in 1980 General Election as a senior politician but did not contest the election himself. In retirement, he lived in Mumbai. When former French Prime Minister Antoine Pinay died on 13 December 1994, Desai became the world's oldest living former head of government. He was much honoured in his last years as a freedom-fighter of his generation. On his 99th birthday, he was visited by Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao, and soon after began to fall ill. He was treated in a hospital in Mumbai due to low blood pressure and a chest infection. He died on 10 April 1995, aged 99, after he underwent surgery for a blood clot in his brain. Desai was a moralist. He was a vegetarian "both by birth and by conviction." Social service Desai was a Gandhian follower, social worker, institution builder and a great reformer. He was the Chancellor of Gujarat Vidyapith. Even during his term as the Prime Minister he used to visit and stay at Vidyapith during the month of October. He lived simply and used to write post cards himself even when he held the office of Prime Minister. Sardar Patel deputed him to conduct meetings of farmers in Kaira district which finally led to