The Rashtriya Swayanvsevak Sangh (RSS) on Saturday appointed Lakshman Behare as its new sangh chalak and Mahesh Dhavalikar as the new karyavaha for the Goa unit.
RSS’s publicity division Manmohan Vaidya confirmed the appointments on Saturday. When asked if the RSS would reach out to its sacked Goa chief Subhash Velingkar, and his rebel group back into the RSS fold, Mr. Vaidya said it was a local issue.
Mr. Velingkar was also the convenor of the Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch (BBSM), a movement spearheading an agitation to demand the BJP government to stop grants to English-medium primary schools. For the BJP State government and the RSS top brass, the RSS-dominated BBSM’s recent announcement to form a political regional outfit to defeat BJP in the next year’s State Assembly polls for its failure to stop the grants was the last straw.
Mr. Velingkar had also criticised the local BJP government of failing to keep promises on the contentious medium of instruction issue. Mr. Velingkar has accused Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar of using his influence with the RSS and getting him sacked as the State RSS chief, a position he held for over 15 years.
He responded to the ouster by forming a parallel unit of the RSS in Goa, which has nominated him as its sangh chalak.
