Encouraged by their easy victory in Parliament, the Prime Minister and her senior colleagues are now making an ambitious bid to forge ahead with a well co-ordinated plan of action to capture the Congress organisation, reshuffle the Central Cabinet and consolidate their political grip on the country before the next Republic Day, if possible. After moving a no-confidence motion against Mr. Nijalingappa and electing an acting Congress President in his place at the requisitioned meeting of AICC members in Delhi this week-end, Mrs. Gandhi’s supporters want to hold a plenary session of their own in the first week of January to formalise this seizure of power. According to her present time-table, the Prime Minister will thereafter make some radical changes in her Cabinet to make it more representative of the new Congress Parliamentary Party and provide some additional berths for the starry-eyed younger elements in her camp who have been in the forefront of this power struggle. Mrs. Gandhi is reported to have indicated to some of her senior colleagues that she would not like the total strength of the new Cabinet to exceed 50 as far as possible.
