BJP invites ruling members to RSS HQ, Ajit Pawar likely to give it a miss

In a letter sent to all ministers, MLAs and MLCs on December 14, BJP’s chief whip in the legislative assembly Ashish Shelar invited all to the RSS headquarters, Reshimbaug to pay respects to Hedgewar and Golwalkar. The letter asked legislators to remain present at the RSS headquarters at 8 am. A line in the bracket mentions that the attendance is mandatory.

A senior leader from Ajit Pawar’s NCP said that the deputy Chief Minister has a scheduled interaction with the editors of local newspapers at 8 AM and is unlikely to go. “We have already scheduled the program of the interaction with editors at his official residence. I cannot comment on whether he will go or not,” the leader told The Indian Express.

Ajit and all the leaders who have joined the state government have been repeatedly saying that irrespective of them joining hands with the BJP, they have not given up on the secular credentials of the party as well as its ideology. After snapping ties with his uncle and NCP chief Sharad Pawar, the Ajit Pawar group has been using photograph of Maharashtra’s first Chief Minister late Yashvantrao Chavan. Sharad Pawar’s daughter and Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule in October took a dig at the Ajit Pawar group reminding him how Chavan was a staunch opponent of RSS and its ideology.

“Yashavantrao in his book wrote ‘…I realised that the RSS wanted to set up a fascist organisation of a particular class. Since then, whenever the name RSS comes, I change my path. I try to keep my workers away from that ideology…’ In this case how can you join hands with the BJP,” Sule had asked in October.

When asked about BJP’s invitation to the Ajit Pawar group, Opposition Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Sunil Prabhu said, “The moment when Ajit Pawar joined hands with the BJP, he was left with no option but to act as per told. He and his party legislators will have to go tomorrow,” he said.

The office of Ashish Shelar said that he has gone to Dubai to be part of the IPL auction. Shelar is also the treasurer of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).