Nanda Said To Want Stay Indian P.M.

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30958, 14 January 1966, Page 10

Nanda Said To Want Stay Indian P.M.

CV Z Pre.'s Association—Copyright) NEW DELHI, January 13, The Prime Minister of India, Mr Gulzari Lal Nanda, was today reported seeking help from Indian political leaders to guarantee his accession to power, the Associated Press reported.

The 67 - year - old Nanda, who succeeded the late Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri on Tuesday, was said to feel strongly that the nation’s governing Congress Party should not ask him to step down in favour of another candidate.

Mr Nanda was acting prime minister after the death of Jawaharlal Nehru on May 27, 1964. but gracefully relinquished power when party leaders chose Mr Shastri as a compromise candidate acceptable to the party’s many factions.

Today he met party president Kumaraswami Kamaraj, and reportedly said he should continue in office at least until General Elections next year. Other potential candidates were also moving to gather support. The plum is the leader's seat among the Congress Party benches in Parliament. The man elected to that position is automatically asked by President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan to form a new Government.

Party leaders today discussed the situation informally and the party’s powerful working committee scheduled

a formal meeting for Friday to work out details of an election. Challenges to Mr Nanda possibly can come from the Defence Minister, Mr Y. B. Chavan and the Information Minister, Mrs Indira Gandhi. Both are thought to want the job, but whether they make a bid will depend on the results of the manoeuvring now under way. A.P. said. Political Machine

Mr Chavan, aged 51, has I the strongest political machine I of all the candidates. A former Chief Minister of Maha-! rashtra (Bombay) State, he| can offer party leaders im-| portant votes in the West-! Central coastal regions. This may be an important factor, as some Congress leaders feel they will face stiff going at the ballot box in the next General Election, the A.P. said. Mr Chavan also carries considerable prestige for his role in helping Mr Shastri direct India’s three-week war against Pakistan in September. Mrs Ghandi, 48-year-old daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, has important support in the Congress Party’s Left Wing. She also moves in a political I aura saturated with the Nehru ■ name—a strong advantage for any office seeker in India. I Mrs Gandhi is also a close I personal friend of the former | Defence Minister, Mr V. K.

Krishna Menon, who is influential among Congress Leftists. There are also two darkhorse possibilities: Mr Morarji Desai, aged 69, a former Finance Minister, and Mrs Vijayalakshmi Pandit, aged 65, sister of the former Prime Minister, Mr Nehru. Mrs Pandit, now in New York on a lecture tour, is an active member of Parliament.