RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat advises BJP to win Delhi through Assembly polls
During his interaction with Shah, the RSS chief is learnt to have advised him to opt for fresh Assembly polls in Delhi rather than try to arrange numbers and to work on promises made to the people during the Lok Sabha poll campaign.
In a not-so-positive development for the newly-appointed Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah, a close aide of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat has reportedly put his foot down on the party's attempts to form a government in Delhi despite being short of majority in the Assembly.
According to sources, Bhagwat conveyed his objection to the BJP's move to Shah when he visited the RSS headquarters at Nagpur in Maharashtra to seek the blessings of the Sarsanghchalak and to attend a coordination meeting in Nagpur.
During his interaction with Shah, the RSS chief is learnt to have advised him to opt for fresh Assembly polls in Delhi rather than try to arrange numbers and to work on promises made to the people during the Lok Sabha poll campaign. Bhagwat also reportedly told Shah not to expect help from the RSS in the coming Assembly elections in five states, including Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand, Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir.
According to sources, Bhagwat told Shah, considered an ace poll strategist, that the RSS supported the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls because the country was facing a difficult period and needed a stable central government with a strong leadership. BJP sources said the RSS had chipped in with its resources down to the booth level to ensure a massive victory for the party in the general election.
According to sources, Bhagwat advised Shah to strengthen the BJP and prepare workers for the coming polls instead of banking on RSS cadres. The move is being seen in BJP circles as the RSS asserting its authority over the party chief and, through him, on Modi. Though sources said the BJP wants to go alone in Maharashtra rather than have an alliance with the Shiv Sena, Shah does not favour breaking the 20-year-old pact between the two parties.
Shah was given a rousing welcome at the RSS headquarters in Nagpur on Friday. Earlier, former BJP chiefs and Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari, too, visited the RSS headquarters after their appointment as party chief.