October 17, 1977, Forty Years Ago: Congress Split?

Express front page forty years ago

Congress Split?

The Congress faces the prospect of another split in the wake of the intemperate attack on the party leadership by Indira Gandhi just before the one-day AICC session concluded. Delegates from different states spent most of the day discussing the speech and Its implications. The concensus was that Mrs Gandhi had left no room for compromise. The speech had served to harden the attitude of her supporters. At the same time, it had placed party president, Brahmananda Reddyand other elected national leaders of the party in a position of either accepting humiliation by submitting to her strictures or replying to them. The AICC session was concluded in a hurry, in the hope to give both sides time to cool off but a group led by Kanataka Chief Minister Devraj Urs began collecting signatures to hold another session to censure Reddy.

Hijacked Plane Lands

The skyjacked Lufthansa Boetag-737 landed at Aden shortly before 8.30 pm IST, flying in from Dubai, informed sources said in Frankfurt, where Lufthansa has its headquarters. The aircraft had left Dubai, its destination unknown, and was over Salalah airport in Oman at 6.30 pm IST. The Oman authorities, however, have refused to allow the airliner to land at Masirah.

CPM Against Indira

The CPM said it was prepared to cooperate “not only with the CPI but even with those Congressmen who are carrying on a struggle against the Congress caucus led by Indira Gandhi and her caucus”. Reacting to the call of the CPI national council for a “ left and democratic national alternative,” the politburo of the CPM said the main danger, which was coming to the fore, was the attempt at restoring the power of the Congress dominated Mrs Indira Gandhi and the caucus around her. The struggle against the policies of the Janata government should not be allowed to become the cover behind which the dethroned PM makes a comeback.