Gujarat Swatantra leaders spared, says Masani

Summary

This one-page newspaper report states that M. R. Masani, former general secretary of the Swatantra Party, believed Gujarat party leaders had been spared serious disciplinary action. The leaders had reportedly been called by the party’s national executive to explain their conduct during the Rajya Sabha elections from Gujarat. The report says this emerged from correspondence between Masani and N. Dandekar, the party’s general secretary, released to the press in Bombay.

Key points

• M. R. Masani described the disciplinary decision concerning Gujarat Swatantra Party leaders as an ‘unpublished decision’.
• The leaders were called by the national executive to explain their conduct during the Rajya Sabha elections from Gujarat.
• The report attributes its account to correspondence between Masani and N. Dandekar.
• Masani criticised the committee’s published version of its decision as a ‘eyewash’.
• He alleged that the committee failed to examine the conduct of the Gujarat State unit’s president and general secretary.
• Masani said certain Members of Parliament, including a national executive member, had travelled from Delhi to Ahmedabad to campaign against the party’s candidate.
• He said the committee had purported to court-martial the corporals while turning a blind eye to the colonel and captains involved.
• Masani said he would remain outside the national executive and devote himself to constructive work.