RAJNATH MISTAKENLY CROSSES SWORD WITH RSS CHIEF

27 Oct 2009

RAJNATH MISTAKENLY CROSSES SWORD WITH RSS CHIEF


Despatch is from
Jal Khambata


NEW DELHI: Provoked by RSS chief calling for the BJP undergo a "surgery" or even "chemotherapy" provoked its President Rajnath Singh on Tuesday to assert that such an opinion can come from no one except a "madman."

The mistaken tirade against the hard-hitting remarks was mounted by Rajnath Singh without even first finding out as to who made the remark. He was, however, not repenting on learning that the remarks had come from Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat.

"Not at all, who says that," he shot back when reporters asked him to react to the BJP needing chemotherapy that amount to saying cancer was eating into the party.

He went on to further react angrily when asked whether the the morale of party workers is low because of repeated poll failures. He shot back: "Our morale is high. Who is saying like this?"

Rajnath, however, did not take back his comments on learning that the unsavoury remark on the state of the BJP had come from none else but RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat in the course a Press conference in Jaipur on Tuesday.

In reply to a question, Bhagwat had said: "....whatever surgery, medicine, chemotherapy is essential, it has to be diagnosed by them (BJP)."

The BJP sources said Rajnath Singh was only defending the party and meant no disrespect to the RSS chief. He did not know the sarcastic remark came from the RSS chief as otherwise everyone knows Rajnath Singh always consults him on all important matters concerning the party, the sources affirmed.

Even while they asserted that Rajnath Singh was not at all taking on the RSS chief, the latter already holding consultations with the BJP top guns since after the party's defeat in the Lok Sabha elections for revamp of the party may not take such reaction lightly.

Rajnath Singh has another three months to go until January when his term ends with election of the new President, but his latest spat with the RSS chief, no matter mistakenly, may hasten his exit much earlier.

Political observers say there should be no surprise if he is pressurised to quit now and hand over the baton to one of the vice-presidents to run the party's show until the organisational elections take place.

They say so far the RSS pressure was on veteran party leader Lal Krishna Advani to step down as the leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, but that pressure may now shift to Rajnath Singh because of his silly folly.

At his Press conference in Jaipur, Bhagwat refuted a suggestion that the RSS was responsible for the sorry state of affairs in BJP. ""If they (BJP) need any organisational help, if they ask for it, we will provide them help," he said while clarifying that the RSS otherwise does not interfere in the party's day-to-day affairs.

Nor did he get into the controversy raging over the prolonged defiance before ultimate resignation of former chief minister Vasundhara Raje as leader of opposition in the Rajasthan Assembly. It is for BJP and its leadership to tackle it, he remarked.

The RSS chief also refused to be dragged into the controversy of "Marathi manoos," an issue raked up by Shiv Sena as also its breakaway group of MNS, stressing that the Hindutva means taking all together.

"Every Indian belongs to India. There are various languages and religions which have their own identity. Hindutva for us is considering them as part of one (entity) and we do not believe in things like Marathi pride," he added.

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