During 1946-47, there was a new upsurge of the State People's Movement demanding political rights and elective representation in the Constituent Assembly.
Nehru presided over the All India State People's Conference sessions in Udaipur (1945) and Gwalior (April 1947).
He declared that states refusing to join the Constituent Assembly would be treated as hostile.
In July 1947, Vallabhbhai Patel took charge of the new States Department.
Under Patel, the incorporation of Indian states took place in two phases with a skillful combination of baits and threats of mass pressure.
Between March and May of 1947, Mountbatten decided that the Cabinet Mission Plan had become untenable and formulated an alternative plan.
The plan envisaged the transfer of power to separate provinces (or to a confederation, if formed before the transfer), with Punjab and Bengal given the option to vote for partition of their provinces.
The various units formed, along with the princely states (rendered independent by lapse of paramountcy), would have the option of joining India, Pakistan, or remaining separate.
The plan was quickly abandoned after Nehru reacted violently to it.
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