Swatantra not to drive rebels to the wall

Summary

This 15 April 1968 Deccan Herald report describes an internal dispute in the Swatantra Party over the Gujarat Assembly’s nomination of U. N. Mahida for the Rajya Sabha. The party’s National Executive decided to issue show-cause notices to four Gujarat members who had sponsored Mahida’s candidature, although Mahida reportedly had the support of approximately 40 Swatantra MLAs and had defeated the party’s official candidate, Mr. Vaidya. In the rendered page, N. Dandekar says the party’s ballot was secret and therefore it would be impossible to establish who voted against the official candidate. The report also records Dandekar’s view that the Gujarat rebels could not be treated as having caused the Swatantra Party’s virtual collapse in Gujarat. He says party members could offer satyagraha against implementation of the Kutch award, but that the executive would not take action against them for doing so. The report additionally notes Minoo Masani’s past support for Vaidya and the executive’s decision to remove Masani from a commitment to support Vaidya and other independents.

Key points

• The Swatantra Party’s National Executive decided to issue show-cause notices to four Gujarat members. The members had sponsored U. N. Mahida’s Rajya Sabha candidature. Mahida reportedly had the support of about 40 Swatantra MLAs and defeated the official candidate, Mr. Vaidya. The secret ballot made it impossible to identify which party members voted against the official candidate. N. Dandekar rejected the suggestion that the Gujarat rebels had caused the Swatantra Party’s virtual collapse in Gujarat. The executive would not penalise party members for offering satyagraha against implementation of the Kutch award.
• Minoo Masani’s prior commitment to support Vaidya and other independents was reportedly withdrawn.