Project collective leadership: RSS tells state BJP
RSS appoints Atul Limaye as coordinator for Maharashtra elections, advises BJP to project collective leadership and avoid corruption links, following Lok Sabha debacle.
MUMBAI: A couple of days after the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) appointed a coordinator – Atul Limaye -- for Assembly polls in Maharashtra, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) parent organization advised the party to project collective leadership as opposed to a single face. The RSS also expressed concerns about corruption charges against the state government and cautioned the party to ensure that it should not be linked to them.
Limaye, as RSS’s sah sarkaryawah (joint general secretary) will coordinate with BJP leaders in the state. The first meeting between Limaye and the leaders was held in Vile Parle on Tuesday.
Following the debacle in the Lok Sabha election in Maharashtra, BJP’s ideological mentor has stepped up to strengthen the coordination between itself and the party. After a meeting between BJP and RSS leaders in Delhi on Sunday, the latter made the decision ahead of the Assembly elections in Haryana, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir, and especially Maharashtra.
Deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has led the party in the state for all elections since 2014. The RSS diktat comes in the wake of severe criticism by Maratha and quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil against Fadnavis, apart from the LS results. Surprisingly, it has come a day after Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar announced that the seat sharing talks and negotiations with allies will be held under Fadnavis’s leadership.
“Keeping the current socio-political scenario in the state in mind, it would be damaging to contest the election under the leadership of a single leader. A collective leadership of OBC, Maratha and Scheduled Caste faces would help the party minimize unrest and angst against the party,” said a BJP functionary.
The right-wing outfit is reportedly displeased with corruption charges levelled against the Eknath Shinde-led state government, as also the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party entering the ruling coalition. “Breaking up of NCP and a faction led by Ajit Pawar did not go down well with the organisation owing to ideological differences with the party and corruption charges Pawar was facing. This was openly expressed by the RSS through its mouthpieces after the LS polls. The outfit emphasised Pawar’s presence in the ruling alliance had hurt prospects of the saffron party. It was also not happy with the state leadership’s act of sidelining the original leaders of the party from the defectors,” a former state minister and BJP leader said.
The RSS also expressed concerns over the style of functioning of some ministers in the government. “The buzz of corruption related to the allotment of contracts for projects and transfers of officers has not gone well with the RSS. It is wary of corruption charges against outfits it chooses to be associated with. BJP leaders have been directed to ensure that they do not damage the poll prospects and image of the party,” said the BJP functionary.
It is believed that RSS, whose headquarters are in Nagpur, remained silent during the Lok Sabha elections in the state, which purportedly led to BJP’s poor showing in the polls. BJP’s share of seats plummeted to 9 from 23 in 2019.