PM Modi hosts dinner for RSS, BJP leaders as state elections near

Narendra Modi is learnt to have interacted with leaders gathered in Haryana’s Surajkund, an annual feature, where BJP and RSS leaders take stock of organisational issues and plan for the future.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted a dinner meeting for key leaders of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at his residence in Delhi on Friday, sources said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses an election campaign rally ahead of the Karnataka state assembly elections in Bengaluru on May 8, 2018. (REUTERS)

The meeting comes at a time when the BJP has begun preparing for assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and may need the help of RSS cadres to fight anti-incumbency to retain power.

While details of the meeting were not known, Modi is learnt to have interacted with leaders gathered in Haryana’s Surajkund for a three-day meeting that started on Thursday. The Surajkund meeting is an annual feature, where BJP and RSS leaders take stock of organisational issues and plan for the future.

“The PM had hosted the functionaries last year as well. He is part of the Sangh Parivaar and interacts with the leaders at regular intervals,” said a person who did not wish to be identified.

It is learnt that emphasis was laid on achieving greater coordination between organisational secretaries and the full-time senior functionaries of the RSS for “seamless communication and exchange of ideas”.

A senior functionary of the RSS said that the agenda of the meeting largely revolves around streamlining and strengthening the organisation. “Electoral politics is not the mainstay of the meeting. Focus is on the organisation, how to run it better and effective coordination between the Sangh and the BJP.”