This, instead of healing the rift within the Party, made it worse and in 1976 there was open confrontation between the two sides at public meetings.
After mediation by S. B. Patel and Jai Ram Reddy, differences between the two sides were patched over for the March 1977 elections.
While the NFP took four days to select a leader, the Governor General appointed a minority Alliance Government.
It was alleged that some NFP members had asked the Governor General not to appoint Koya as the Prime Minister.
The split reappeared after the election but this time with Jai Ram Reddy siding with the anti-Koya faction.