Now Vajpayee bats for RSS

Earlier, RSS spokesman Ram Madhav confirmed receipt of Bharati’s letter to sarsanghchalak K S Sudarshan and said its contents would be discussed by Sangh elders.

Bharati’s letter, sources said, had enraged the RSS as well as sections of the BJP. ‘‘The tone and tenor of the letter is highly objectionable,’’ an RSS insider said. Far from helping Bharati, her missive to the Sangh chief may have further damaged her prospects of returning to Bhopal as chief minister or regaining her post as general secretary, sources said.

Vajpayee, who has not spoken in public since the Chennai meet, faced a volley of questions today on recent events rocking the BJP. Vajpayee said since he had not read Bharati’s letter, he could not comment on it.

But to a specific query as to whether he agreed that the RSS was interfering in BJP affairs, the former prime minister said, ‘‘Sangh hastakshep nahin karta.’’ He repeated it, saying there was ‘‘no question’’ of RSS’ interference.

RSS insiders have been privately gloating over the fact that no significant BJP leader has taken up Advani’s call for a ‘‘debate’’ on BJP-RSS relations nor has anyone echoed Advani’s redefinition of the ties as ‘‘symbiotic’’ rather than ‘‘umbilical.’’ Pramod Mahajan, for instance, not only ruled out a public debate on relations with the RSS but also underlined that the two organisations shared a ‘‘mother-child’’ relationship. Even Bharati, who appeared to side with Advani in accusing RSS of interference, took pains to highlight her grievance against Suresh Soni and not the Sangh as a whole.

Bharati, sources said, is expected to get in touch with the Sangh leadership over the next couple of days to reiterate that she was only drawing their attention to the ‘‘damage’’ caused by Soni’s ‘subjective’’ handling of MP affairs (since he belongs to the state) and not attacking the RSS per se.

While public support from Mahajan, Bharati, Sushma Swaraj et al since Advani’s Chennai speech bolstered the RSS, Vajpayee’s certificate has come as a real shot-in-the arm since he was traditionally seen as anti-RSS.

But over the last few months, RSS-Vajpayee relations have improved almost in tandem with the deterioration in RSS-Advani ties. But given Vajpayee’s penchant for contradicting one enigmatic soundbyte with an equally cryptic comment, no one is sure whether his pro-RSS stance today was a one-off response or part of a sustained strategy to defuse the tensions within the Parivar.