ABSTRACT
By the Swarajists' involvement in civil disobedience, by the elimination of his main rivals for regional leadership, and by drawing together the reins of party control into his own hands, Rajagopalachari was able to exercise a command over the party which had persistently evaded him in the 1920s. This centralization of control and internal consolidation was the preliminary stage of a wider process of coalescence. The coalescence of Congressmen and their allies at the level of provincial politics within a constitutionalist party was accompanied by the expansion and consolidation of party support in the localities. Although the leadership proved resilient and regained office in 1930, the party was losing to the Congress the support of its original middle-class contingent. This contraction can be attributed to the success of the Congress in scoring political victories against the Justice Party, but it was also a reflection of the increasing domination of the party by zamindars and bankers.
