NEW DELHI: The Governor-General of India, Lord Mountbatten received on October 17 the Hyderabad delegation which arrived on October 16 with a fresh draft agreement regarding accession of the state.

The conference which lasted nearly three ho­­urs, was also attended by Mr. V.P. Menon, Secre­tary, States Ministry. While no indication is available of the contents of the draft which the Nizam’s representatives have brought here for discussion, it is widely believed in political circles that the negotiations have now reached a deadlock. It was generally assumed when the Hyder­abad delegation last week returned to the state to report to the Nizam on the five conferences it had had with the Governor-General on the state’s accession question, that the draft which would be put up by the Nizam would be in the light of the discussions that had taken place in Delhi.

But the latest position … indicates that the present series of talks is also likely to prove abortive. Various factors are stated to have contributed to this virtual deadlock, one of them being the attitude of a political organisation in Hyderabad state, which dominates the scene and which has taken up a hostile attitude against the Nizam’s accession to the Indian Dominion. — News agencies

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2022