[Letter to Mr V S Srikumar]

Summary

This six-page correspondence records S. V. Raju’s political assessment of the Swatantra Party and its proposed federal cooperation with opposition parties in May 1975. Writing to Joint Secretary V. S. Srikumar, Raju endorses the Tamil Nadu Swatantra Party’s resolution supporting a federal opposition structure, while criticizing Piloo Mody’s conflict with Charan Singh and his group. He also reports internal disputes within the BLD, tensions in the Tamil Nadu unit, and efforts to investigate party membership and organizational loyalties before taking disciplinary or recruitment decisions.

The file includes an enclosed letter from G. Hanumantha Rao dated 6 May 1975. Rao describes the difficulty of reviving Swatantra in his districts, notes defections to the BLD and Congress, and reports efforts to establish a training centre at Panchsheela. The correspondence also mentions Jayaprakash Narayan’s well-attended public meeting near Vijayawada and Raju’s attempts to build support for a federal opposition arrangement through a common minimum programme.

Key points

• Raju supports a federal organization of democratic opposition parties opposed to Congress and the Communists.
• The proposed opposition arrangement would function as a single legislative party and contest elections on a common minimum programme.
• The correspondence reports factional conflict involving Piloo Mody, Charan Singh, the BLD, and the Tamil Nadu Swatantra unit.
• Raju seeks evidence about party members’ loyalties before deciding whether to enroll them or assign them positions.
• The enclosed letter from G. Hanumantha Rao describes organizational difficulties and defections in districts around Guntur.
• Rao reports that Jayaprakash Narayan’s Vijayawada meeting drew approximately one to one-and-a-half lakh people despite rain and strong winds.
• Rao is working with a local committee to develop a political training centre at Panchsheela.