The RSS sought to eliminate any perception of a rift with the Modi-led BJP following the Lok Sabha elections, in which the saffron party did not secure a clear majority. On the prospect of appointing a new BJP president following JP Nadda’s induction into the Union cabinet, RSS sources affirmed their ongoing involvement in the consultation process.
Highlighting a good equation with the BJP, RSS sources told PTI that the party is scheduled to attend organisation’s three-day annual coordination meeting with its affiliates to be held in the Palakkad district of Kerala starting from August 31. Senior BJP leaders, including its president, are expected to attend the meeting, the first such exercise after the recent polls.
“There is no rift between the RSS and the BJP,” the sources told news agency PTI, amid the assertion by a section of people, including the opposition leaders, that Bhagwat’s remarks, including “true sevak is never arrogant”, were a message to the BJP leadership following its below-par performance in the polls.
“There was not much difference in his (Mr Bhagwat’s) speech from what he had given after the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Any address is bound to refer to an event as important as national elections. “But it was misinterpreted and taken out of context to create confusion. His ‘arrogance’ remark was never directed at Prime Minister Narendra Modi or any BJP leader,” the sources said.
Opposition leaders seized on his remarks to criticise the BJP and PM Modi. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh remarked, “If not the ‘one-third’ Prime Minister’s conscience or the repeated demands of the people of Manipur, perhaps Mr Bhagwat can prevail upon the former RSS office-bearer to go to Manipur.”
