31
believe that he was well inclined towards me.
Anyhow, I was never so vain as to think that I
was the most suitable person for the office, and
my peculiar temperament made me'fear that
such elevation would be a violent uplift to
uneasy eminence. And there was another rea-
"son. It was a settled opinion with me that at
least for some time to come one of the nobles of
Hyderabad should continue to be the ornament-
al figurehead of the State in order to keep up
the old high standard of princely dignity and
maintain its proper atmosphere. I am glad to
say that I never changed this view and when the
time came for it, I strongly supported the claim
! of the late Maharaja Kishen Pershad and
succeeded in obtaining the approval of the
Ruler to his selection."
" Lord Irwin before his visit to Hyderabad
in 1929 had agreed that it would be advisable
to have one of the nobles of Hyderabad as
President, and this was a satisfactory solution
because, in view of the political conditions
prevailing in British India at the time, it would
have been a risky experiment to 'import' a man
from there. At one time I had offered another
suggestion regarding the Presidentship. It was
to make it tenable for a year or two by the
Members of the Council in rotation, in the order
of seniority. It seemed to me that this idea
had some good reasons in its favour; it recognised
the principle of equality; it precluded the
possibility of any one head running the risk of