The situation was fast changing on the national political front as well. There had been ferment in the media about dissensus in the BKD which appeared at a time when Indira Gandhi was consolidating her power. The presidential election, called after the untimely death of the sitting President, accorded her the perfect opportunity. The Congress was already divided between Gandhi’s acolytes and the rivalling group called the “Syndicate”, which referred largely to active Congress state bosses. Gandhi fielded V.V. Giri for the position — a candidate not favoured among the party ranks. He had strongly supported centralisation and the nationalisation of banks, in line with Mrs. Gandhi’s aggressive stance on economic policy, and stood for everything contrary to Charan Singh’s rural, diversified, small-scale economy approach. Singh, along with the Jan Sangh and the Swatantra Party, supported C.D. Deshmukh. Giri’s victory against all odds became the decisive episode in the growing dominance of Indira Gandhi who now had sidelined her detractors.