The chances of reconciliation between the Prime Minister and the “Syndicate” over the Presidential nomination are being hampered by an almost conspiratorial atmosphere of crisis being built up by the busybodies on both sides on the eve of the Congress Parliamentary Party meetings this week-end. It was thought by some well-meaning intermediaries that they would be able to calm tempers after the dust had settled – and the debris of the explosion in the Parliamentary Board had been cleared – but unfortunately the hot-heads in both the camps are running around with oil cans instead of water and stoking fires in the name of stamping them out in good time. The Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, has not yet come face to face either with the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Morarji Desai, or the Home Minister, Mr. Y. B. Chavan, after the showdown in Bangalore. And no Cabinet or committee meetings have been fixed for the next day or two to avoid them personal embarrassment before they are ready to sit together again to transact Government business and settle some pending policy matters before Parliament meets on Monday [July 21]. The Prime Minister, Mrs. Gandhi to-day called on the acting President, Mr. V. V. Giri, who told her that there was no question of his withdrawing from the Presidential contest.
