Page "C. Rajagopalachari" Paragraph 27

At Nehru's invitation, in 1950 Rajaji joined the Union Cabinet as Minister without Porfolio where he served as a buffer between Nehru and Home Minister Sardar Patel and on occasion offered to mediate between the two.

Following Patel's death on December 15, 1950, Rajaji was finally made Home Affairs Minister and went on to serve for nearly 10 months.

As had his predecessor, he warned Nehru about the expansionist designs of China and expressed regret over the Tibet problem.

He also expressed concern over demands for new linguistically based states, arguing that they would generate differences amongst the people.