A news published in the newspapers after the death of Pandit Nehru had tilted the scale in favor of Lal Bahadur Shastri as his successor. After being elected to the post of Prime Minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri publicly hugged the journalist who gave this news outside the Parliament House. Congress President K. who announced consensus in favor of Shastri. Kamaraj had thanked the journalist. Morarji Desai never forgave that journalist for this. However, the journalist said on every occasion that he had given the news on the basis of facts and he had no other intention. What was that news?
Famous journalist Kuldeep Nayyar has mentioned in detail the struggle for succession after the death of Pandit Nehru in his autobiography. Home Secretary V. Vishwanathan was especially alert. He gave a message to the states that there is a lot of tension in Delhi, hence special caution should be taken. The army was alerted and leaves of its officers and soldiers were cancelled. However, the truth was that there was no such thing as rebellion.
Army Chief General J.K. Chaudhary was ill. It is true that he had called six thousand soldiers of the Army's Western Command to Delhi, but according to Chaudhary, its purpose was to control the crowd at the time of Pandit ji's funeral and he had already informed the President about this. Home Secretary Vishwanathan later said that he had organized a march past of the army to stop the rumours.
Morarji's claim for the post of leader started on the same day of Nehru's funeral.
On the day of Pandit Nehru's funeral, there was a lot of hustle and bustle at Morarji Desai's bungalow on Tyagraj Marg. By that time Nayyar was P.I.B. Left his job at news agency UNI. Had joined. As a journalist, he had reached there and wanted to meet Morarji and confirm his claim for the post of Prime Minister. It was not possible for Nair to meet him, but he saw the list of MPs in the hands of Desai's son Kanti Bhai and staunch supporter Minister of State for Finance Tarakeshwari Sinha, in which there were ticks in front of supporters and question marks in front of other names.
The supporters present said that Morarji will contest the election for the post of leader under any circumstances and will win the election easily. It was also reported that Chief Ministers of Punjab Pratap Singh Kairon, Biju Patnaik of Orissa, Balwant Rai Mehta of Gujarat, PC Sen of Bengal and C.B. All the senior Congress leaders including Gupta are with Morarji. Kanti Desai, who knew that Nair had been Lal Bahadur Shastri's information officer, said, “Tell your Shastri not to compete.”
Lal Bahadur Shastri
Shastri wanted consensus
According to Nayyar, he was at Lal Bahadur Shastri's house late in the evening on the same day. He said that I am in favor of consensus. After some silence he added, “Still, if elections are held, I can compete with Morarji and can win, but not with Indira ji.” Then he suggested that in these circumstances we need a person like Jayaprakash Narayan to take over the reins of the government. Shastri entrusted the responsibility of conveying the message to Nair to Morarji that it would be better to elect the leader unanimously. To create consensus, Shastri had suggested the first name of Jayaprakash Narayan and the second name of Indira Gandhi.
Morarji told JP that he is confused, Indira is a daughter.
Morarji Bhai rejected Lal Bahadur Shastri's suggestion outright. He rejected Jayaprakash Narayan as “a confused person” and Indira Gandhi as “a little girl”. Party President K. Kamaraj was also engaged in trying for consensus. The party had authorized him for this work. He was continuously talking to the MPs. Kuldeep Nayyar, witness to this entire incident, told UNI. Released news related to this on ticker .
"Former Finance Minister Morarji Desai was the first to announce his claim for the post of Prime Minister. It is believed that he has told his colleagues that he is a candidate for this post. He is understood to have said that elections are necessary and he will not step down from the contest. Minister without portfolio Lal Bahadur Shastri was being considered as another candidate. Although he himself was not saying anything. Sources close to him said that he will make every possible effort to postpone the contest.”
I did not realize the power of the printed word at that time.
Nayyar wrote that he had no idea that this small news would cause so much harm to Morarji Desai. “Being associated with a government organization, press information, I did not realize the power of the printed word.” The news gave the message that Morarji was so ambitious that he did not keep patience even till the fire of Pandit Nehru's pyre cooled down. Some of Morarji's supporters later told Nair that the news resulted in the loss of votes of at least a hundred MPs.
Of. Kamaraj whispered “Thank you” into Nair's ear while descending the stairs of Parliament House. Lal Bahadur Shastri called him home and said, “Now there is no need for any other story.” Consider the match over.” Nayyar tried to tell that the purpose of writing the news was not to benefit or harm anyone. In response, Shastri indicated to remain silent by placing a finger on his lips.
After being elected party leader, he hugged Nair on the outer steps of the Parliament House. According to Nayyar, Morarji continued to believe throughout his life that I had written this news in favor of Lal Bahadur Shastri. In response to Nair's clarification, Morarji used to say, "Shastri had his own way of using people and people were not even aware of it." Kamaraj had announced consensus in favor of Shastri. Morarji always said that Kamaraj “manipulated”.
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