RSS brainstorms with BJP ministers to achieve ‘total political domination’ in Maharashtra

RSS met BJP ministers to strategise for local body polls, aiming for total dominance in Maharashtra post assembly election success.

After the BJP’s outstanding success in the Maharashtra assembly polls two months ago, its ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), held a meeting with the party’s ministers in Mumbai on Saturday.

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat speaks during the 'Kathale Kulsammelan' programme in Nagpur on December 1, 2024. (PTI FILE Photo)

RSS leaders, who played a key role in the polls, have reportedly laid out a road map for the BJP ahead of the local body polls.

The RSS is looking at total domination by the Mahayuti’s three parties in Maharashtra’s political landscape, for which winning local body elections across the state will be a vital step.

Elections for most of the municipal corporations of major cities, including Mumbai, and district councils of a majority of districts are expected to be held this year.

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, Mumbai BJP chief and cultural minister Ashish Shelar, Chandrakant Patil, Pankaja Munde and Girish Mahjan among other ministers, were present for the meeting. Among the RSS functionaries and senior leaders was joint general secretary Atul Limaye who spearheaded the RSS campaign in the assembly polls.

Read: Sharad Pawar praised RSS after seeing how it burst fake narrative balloon of LS polls: Fadnavis

“The RSS played a key role in the victory of the BJP and Mahayuti in the assembly polls with its microplanning at the ground level across the state,” said a BJP leader. “On Saturday, it discussed the forthcoming local body polls in the state and strategised a way to win them. The RSS leaders told the BJP leaders to replicate the strategy of the assembly polls, which was implementing the Hindutva agenda across the state.”

The ministers were reportedly apprised of the sentiments about and reactions to the new Mahayuti government. “They were also instructed about the steps that need to be taken by the government and the party ahead of the polls,” said the BJP leader. “They deliberated upon the stand of the ruling partners and ways to counter the narratives set by the opposition.”

RSS functionaries reportedly told the government about the steps against illegal migrants from Bangladesh and ‘frontal organisations’ assisting the opposition.

The BJP and the leadership in the government were also apprised of the strategy the Sangh was chalking out for the local body polls and what it expected to be done at the organisational and government level.

“This is a routine pre-election deliberation between the BJP and the RSS,” said another BJP leader. “However, against the backdrop of the recent electoral success, it has gained more importance.”