Responding to the resolution passed during the 15th meeting regarding the formation of a larger party, Charan Singh met with leaders of the Jan Sangh and the Swatantra Party together. Dubbed the “rightist” trio in the press (a term that BKD took offence with, the party was neither leftist nor rightist but “Gandhian” as they quickly noted in a statement to the press), the three parties held talks through most of late May where Vajpayee notably absented himself. Due to this, the Jana Sangh was noncommittal. The “rightist trio” ceased before it really even begun. All that the three parties could agree on was the pervasive “communist menace.” Talks with PSP too reached a stalemate as the party was not amenable to the BKD affiliating with the Jan Sangh and the Swatrantra Party. On a note issued to the BKD on May 28, Charan Singh regretfully suggests the cause of this deadlock had been the failure of these parties to “sufficiently realise” the “gravity of the situation” into which the country is swiftly sliding; it is also said that the move was “misunderstood and misinterpreted” in several quarters. Merger talks with the Jan Sangh were now to be completely suspended.
Swatantra, BKD and Jan Sangh hold talks over a possible three-way merger, which ultimately fail, BKD suspends talks with Jan Sangh indefinitely
25-28 May 1969
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