RSS to provide full support to BJP

The Lok Sabha elections of 2009 have seen a great churning not only in the major political alliances but within the Sangh Parivar as well.

The change of leadership in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the parent organisation of the BJP with Mohan Bhagwat taking over from Sudarshan has meant not only the leadership passing on to a younger leader but also to someone not averse to open political participation by the RSS.

Sources in the RSS have confirmed that the organisation which had a difficult five years dealing with the BJP is now girding up to provide all the logistical support to the party. This is in complete contravention of the 2006 Chitrakoot resolution of the RSS, wherein it had decided that it was going to keep away from political activities.

Sources say except for the Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh elections, they have kept to the plan. All that is about to change. "The moment Bhagwatji took over as Sarsanghchalak, he made an appeal for an increase in the percentage of voting. Instructions have also gone down to the line to ABVP to mobilise college campuses, and the VHP is mobilising voters through sants and mahants," said a top source in the organisation.

"In fact despite tall claims made by the BJP, they have not been able to penetrate more than 60 per cent of booths in the seats where they fielded candidates. The RSS will go all out to ensure that all our voters come out on polling day," said the source.

This sense of immediacy is because of the predictions of gloom being made for the BJP. "With allies deserting the BJP, it looks quite bad. We do not want the BJP to lose because we didn’t do anything," he added. The RSS' own assessment of the number of seats the BJP could win, post-Varun Gandhi, is around 130 seats.