<P> The rulers of the princely states were not uniformly enthusiastic about integrating their domains into independent India . Some, such as the rulers of Bikaner and Jawhar, were motivated to join India out of ideological and patriotic considerations, but others insisted that they had the right to join either India or Pakistan, to remain independent, or form a union of their own . Bhopal, Travancore and Hyderabad announced that they did not intend to join either dominion . Hyderabad went as far as to appoint trade representatives in European countries and commencing negotiations with the Portuguese to lease or buy Goa to give it access to the sea, and Travancore pointed to the strategic importance to western countries of its thorium reserves while asking for recognition . Some states proposed a subcontinent - wide confederation of princely states, as a third entity in addition to India and Pakistan . Bhopal attempted to build an alliance between the princely states and the Muslim League to counter the pressure being put on rulers by the Congress . </P> <P> A number of factors contributed to the collapse of this initial resistance and to nearly all non-Muslim majority princely states agreeing to accede to India . An important factor was the lack of unity among the princes . The smaller states did not trust the larger states to protect their interests, and many Hindu rulers did not trust Muslim princes, in particular Hamidullah Khan, the Nawab of Bhopal and a leading proponent of independence, whom they viewed as an agent for Pakistan . Others, believing integration to be inevitable, sought to build bridges with the Congress, hoping thereby to gain a say in shaping the final settlement . The resultant inability to present a united front or agree on a common position significantly reduced their bargaining power in negotiations with the Congress . The decision by the Muslim League to stay out of the Constituent Assembly was also fatal to the princes' plan to build an alliance with it to counter the Congress, and attempts to boycott the Constituent Assembly altogether failed on 28 April 1947, when the states of Baroda, Bikaner, Cochin, Gwalior, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Patiala and Rewa took their seats in the Assembly . </P> <P> Many princes were also pressured by popular sentiment favouring integration with India, which meant their plans for independence had little support from their subjects . The Maharaja of Travancore, for example, definitively abandoned his plans for independence after the attempted assassination of his dewan, Sir C.P. Ramaswami Iyer . In a few states, the chief ministers or dewans played a significant role in convincing the princes to accede to India . The key factors that led the states to accept integration into India were, however, the efforts of Lord Mountbatten, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and V.P. Menon . The latter two were respectively the political and administrative heads of the States Department, which was in charge of relations with the princely states . </P> <P> Mountbatten believed that securing the states' accession to India was crucial to reaching a negotiated settlement with the Congress for the transfer of power . As a relative of the British King, he was trusted by most of the princes and was a personal friend of many, especially the Nawab of Bhopal, Hamidullah Khan . The princes also believed that he would be in a position to ensure that independent India adhered to any terms that might be agreed upon, because Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Patel had asked him to become the first Governor General of the Dominion of India . </P>

Important centre of indian national movement in map