Sacked Goa RSS chief forms own Sangh unit

NEW DELHI: A fracture has surfaced in the RSS’s Goa unit, with former state unit chief Subhash Velingkar announcing his own faction after a tussle with the BJP.

NEW DELHI: A fracture has surfaced in the RSS’s Goa unit, with former state unit chief Subhash Velingkar announcing his own faction after a tussle with the BJP.

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Velingkar, who lost his post over plans to launch a political party, said on Thursday his faction will not report to the RSS headquarters in Nagpur.

Also, he accused defence minister Manohar Parrikar, a former Goa chief minister, of “cheating Hindus” in the state.

“Parrikar promised to shut schools run by the dioceses, but now he is projecting himself as messiah of the minorities (Christians),” he said.

Velingkar appointed his supporters as office-bearers of the new RSS unit, and said his team will contest against the BJP in the 2017 assembly elections. The breakaway RSS unit decided to back the political party that Velingkar’s organisation, the Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch, will float or support.

The RSS dismissed reports of a rift. “No unit of the RSS can disassociate from the prant on its own. It is the decision of the kendra. The Goa unit is and will remain a vibhag (part) of the Konkan Prant and new office-bearers will be announced shortly,” Sangh leader Manmohan Vaidya said.He denied Velingkar was divested of his duties for his anti-BJP activities.