The Hindu : National : Venkaiah Naidu, three others meet RSS leader

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 29, 2005

National

National

Venkaiah Naidu, three others meet RSS leader

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Ahead of the `prant pracharak baithak' (state propagandists meeting) of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in Surat from July 2, four senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders met the joint general secretary of the RSS, Suresh Soni, on Monday to discuss the meeting's agenda related to the BJP.

Party vice-presidents Venkaiah Naidu and Bal Apte and general secretaries Sanjay Joshi and Rajnath Singh had a discussion with Mr. Soni, who is the RSS leader in-charge of BJP affairs, to discuss the fallout of the Surat meeting on the future of BJP president L.K. Advani.

Jinnah controversy

Informally, RSS sources have made it clear that the recent Jinnah related controversy that almost saw Mr. Advani exit as party president would come up for discussion.

Officially RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav said "the current situation prevailing in the country would be discussed" but he also cautioned that "no resolutions would be passed" and "no decisions would be taken."

It seems that the BJP leaders who met Mr. Soni on Monday wanted to be assured that no adverse comments would be made on the BJP president as that would have negative fallout on the party and its prospects in the forthcoming Assembly elections in Bihar.

While it is not clear what assurances, if any, were extracted, party leaders at several levels of seniority confirm that the RSS is not too pleased with Mr. Advani's combative stance as "Arjun" of Mahabharat.

While Mr. Advani was a party to the BJP statement making clear that the party held Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Pakistan's founder, responsible for the Partition of this country and the consequent riots that led to lakhs of people dying, he had not yet publicly retracted his statements made during his Pakistan visit eulogising Jinnah as one of the rare individuals who made history and who had a "secular" vision.

The RSS meeting is an annual affair coming at the end of its training programmes held throughout the country.

But a thorough and open discussion on the issue of Mr. Advani having strayed from the ideological line is expected to be the highlight of this meeting.

And the BJP's own national executive committee meeting is scheduled to take place in Chennai from July 21. Since all the senior RSS leaders will be present in Surat a discussion on the sidelines on the Advani-Jinnah affair and on a possible "future president" of the BJP is not being ruled out.

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