[For Favour of Publication]

Summary

This one-page Swatantra Party Central Office communication, dated April 4, 1964, corrects press reports in the Gujarati press in Ahmedabad and Bombay concerning alleged appointments within the Gujarat Swatantra Party. M. R. Masani states that reports naming Mr. Dharamsinh Patel of Junagadh as Joint Secretary for work in Saurashtra and Mr. Raja Babu of Bhavnagar as Joint Treasurer are unauthorised and contradict what occurred at the Gujarat State Executive meeting on April 1.

The notice also clarifies the party’s organisational rules. State units may recommend appointments through their State Executive Committees, but office-bearers nominated by the Centre cannot be appointed or changed at the state level; state-level office-bearers must be appointed by the Central Organising Committee. The document is headed “For Favour of Publication” but its body is marked “Not for Publication,” making it both a press correction and an internal clarification of authority.

Key points

• Masani rejects press reports about two alleged appointments in the Gujarat Swatantra Party.
• He says he attended the Gujarat State Executive meeting on April 1 and that no such proposals or decisions were made.
• The communication distinguishes between appointments made by the Centre and recommendations originating in state units.
• State Executive Committees may recommend appointments, but cannot themselves appoint or alter centrally nominated office-bearers.
• State-level office-bearers must be appointed by the party’s Central Organising Committee.
• The notice seeks to correct what Masani calls the wrong impression that the reported appointments had been made.