Joshi wins RSS trust, not Advani146;s

Finally convinced about the 8216;8216;conspiracy8217;8217; theory in the Sanjay Joshi sleaze CD case, the RSS today said that the former BJP general secretary organisation had automatically come back into the RSS fold as pracharak, thus indirectly putting pressure on the saffron party to reinstate him in his earlier post.

Finally convinced about the 8216;8216;conspiracy8217;8217; theory in the Sanjay Joshi sleaze CD case, the RSS today said that the former BJP general secretary organisation had automatically come back into the RSS fold as pracharak, thus indirectly putting pressure on the saffron party to reinstate him in his earlier post.

In a statement issued here today, RSS sarkaryawah Mohan Bhagwat said, 8216;8216;Ever since the Madhya Pradesh police statement exonerating Joshi in the case has come, a lot of people have been asking about Joshi8217;s status as pracharak. I wish to make it clear that the RSS had never relieved him of the responsibility of the pracharak8217;s post. But Joshi himself had resolved to keep off it till he was exonerated. Now that he has been, he is automatically back as pracharak.8217;8217;

At a public speech here a couple of months ago, Bhagwat had said, 8216;8216;We should take care that we don8217;t allow ourselves to slip up or be framed.8217;8217;

With the police8217;s saying the CDs were fake, the last of the RSS doubts about Joshi was cleared. Sources also said that the reason why the RSS was convinced it was a conspiracy against Joshi was the reluctance of the CD makers to come out openly against the pracharak.

There already had been allegations that internal politics were behind the surfacing of the CD which purportedly showed Joshi, a pracharark, with a woman. The names of some senior BJP leaders had been associated with the move.

Sources close to RSS opined that Joshi8217;s return to the BJP should be the logical result of this announcement. 8216;8216;As it is, Rajnath Singh had kept his post vacant,8217;8217; they said.

Meanwhile, the BJP president is faced with the first major crisis in his new job with the RSS keen on Joshi8217;s immediate rehabilitation as general secretary organisation and party strongman L K Advani opposing it tooth and nail. Though it was Advani who promoted Joshi and had him installed in the party post at a relatively young age, he had reason to feel betrayed by the pracharak when he acted as an RSS pointman rather than a proteacute;geacute; during the Jinnah controversy.

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Advani apparently believes that Joshi8217;s return would signal a second victory for the RSS after his own removal as party president. Amid this, former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who generally avoids taking sides in the party8217;s contentious internal matters, is playing it cool and has not sided with any party.

It is not difficult to figure out what Rajnath Singh is himself inclined to do. He has kept the post of general secretary organisation vacant. Joshi8217;s office room and living quarters at the party headquarters also remain unalloted to anyone.