PM’s Letter to Partymen

NEW DELHI, November 11 (UNI, PTI)—The Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, has said the proposed requisitioned session of the AICC in Delhi could release vast energies to take the Congress and the country forward. In a letter to all members of the AICC, Congress members of the Parliament and Congress legislators, Mrs. Gandhi said the organisation, to be real and alive, had to work democratically and dynamically which was the aim of the members of the AICC that would meet in Delhi on November 22 and 23. The letter dated November 8 was released to the Press today along with enclosures containing text of correspondence between the Prime Minister and the Congress President. While stating that she did not want a split in the Congress, Mrs. Gandhi said she did want unity at the cost of principles and methods of work. In the infructuous talks she had with the Congress President recently, the Prime Minister said Mr. Nijalingappa did not make a firm commitment to a new election to all elected offices above the PCC level as an interim measure, even on the basis of rolls cleansed on bogus membership. Regarding the show-cause notice served on her, Mrs Gandhi said: “I do not discuss the show-cause notice with them and he did not offer to resend it. From reliable sources it was learnt that he had every intention of taking action against me and others.” She said “bossism” and democracy could not go together and there was always a conflict between them. “It is this conflict which has reached a critical stage.” The Prime Minister said: “The Congress must open its closed doors to winds of change and re-establish its living links with the people in every town and village in India.” Mrs. Gandhi said there was a loss of confidence in themselves and in the destiny both of the country and of the Congress Party.