In the aftermath of the Bangladesh war, defections to the Congress (R) grew as Indira Gandhi’s domination grew. This led to a depletion in the BKD’s numbers. By March 1972, Charan Singh had lost his claim to be the leader of opposition in the UP Assembly. He withheld any praise for the Prime Minister for offering Pakistan a premature ceasefire. It is known that Pakistan did take advantage of this move and resumed attacks, vindicating Singh’s comments rather quickly. He also refused to pay lip service to the Soviet Union which had to come to India’s aid in the war, citing the blow we had received from an erstwhile ally China, despite effusive sentiments of fraternity from Nehru. This drew ire from many among the BKD ranks, notably Virendra Verma, who accused Singh of not being able to parse his friends from his enemies. The spate of defections however, had more to do with personal ambition than any real disagreements with Charan Singh on doctrinal lines. This breakaway group of BKD defectors eventually merged with the Congress. Singh also proclaimed in his retorts to Verma that despite their waning numbers on the floor of the house, their public meetings across UP continued to pull huge crowds, and the defections did not dent the party’s popularity. The 20th meeting of the BKD national executive also reaffirmed that there would be no new mergers and the party will continue.