DRAFT minutes of the State Council Meeting of the Swatantra Party, Maharashtra held at Bombay on Saturday, the 6th July 1974.

Summary

This English-language institutional record contains the draft minutes of the Maharashtra State Council of the Swatantra Party, held in Bombay on 6 July 1974, together with copies of an adopted resolution and a proposed resolution for the Party’s Seventh National Convention. The minutes record attendance, confirmation of the previous meeting’s minutes, discussion of the proposal to dissolve the Swatantra Party, and arrangements for delegates to attend the forthcoming convention in Delhi.

Key points

• The Maharashtra State Council met at the Swatantra Party office in Bombay on 6 July 1974, with Madhu Mehta in the chair and Piloo Mody attending as a special invitee.
• The meeting considered whether the Swatantra Party should dissolve alongside six other parties to facilitate the formation of a new national political alternative.
• Most listed members opposed dissolution for the purpose of forming a new party; N. K. Jagtap was recorded as the sole dissenter from the adopted resolution.
• Piloo Mody argued that a new party was needed as a national alternative to the ruling Congress, while M. R. Masani opposed dissolving the Swatantra Party.
• The adopted Maharashtra resolution defended the continuing validity of the Swatantra Party’s principles and policies and argued that the timing was unsuitable for its dissolution.
• The resolution warned that a vague coalition programme could produce internal disagreement and that the continued existence of Congress and Jan Sangh would undermine the objective of a genuine two-party system.
• The meeting elected delegates to the National Convention and assigned a sub-committee to finalise the names of 21 Maharashtra delegates.
• The attached notice for the Seventh National Convention repeats the case against dissolution and records a proposal to reject dissolution, but the rendered pages do not record the convention’s final decision.