ABSTRACT
In the course of meeting the challenges, Mrs. Indira Gandhi had promised to create a new political process, based on a restoration of strong central rule which had become eroded since her father's death, and free from the evils of bossism. In order to attain control over the party, Mrs. Gandhi had to ensure control over the appointment of members of the Working Committee, the Parliamentary Board, and the Central Election Committee. Since the Congress split, the Parliamentary Board has also become increasingly interventionist as part of Mrs. Gandhi's overall effort to reshape the party and restore central control. Mrs. Gandhi's opponents in the undivided Congress had tried to create an activist president of the republic whom they could control as a device to challenge the prime minister. Since Mrs. Gandhi's new politics were superimposed upon the old, the Congress remained vulnerable to the twin threats of factionalism from within and opposition alliance politics from without.
