RSS meet discusses BJP’s future course

The three-day RSS executive that began in the historic town of Rajgir, near Nalanda, in Bihar on Friday will discuss, among other things, the future course of the BJP and its leadership, an issue that has been at the core of the many debates following the party’s debacle in the Lok Sabha election.

Manmohan Vaidya, who heads the RSS’ media group, said the meeting would also take up the issues of terrorism, naxalism, border dispute with Pakistan and China and drought. All members of the RSS family, including the BJP and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, will discuss the year’s progress and plans.

The meeting, inaugurated by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, would review the expansion of shakhas (RSS branches), besides the apolitical ‘Gau Gram Yatra’, or the campaign to save cows, he said.

The crisis in the BJP, whose top leaders continue to be at war with each other, would be taken up and the issue of succession examined. The BJP is also due to elect president Rajnath Singh’s successor.

At the same time, there is pressure on ageing leader LK Advani to step down as leader of the opposition. He may announce his resignation on his birthday, November 8.

Who replaces him is another question that needs an answer. Advani is keen to have people of his choice as both leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha and BJP president to maintain his control over the party.