RSS chief to teach BJP MPs how to improve party image

On the Women’s Reservation Bill, for instance, Union Minister Uma Bharti publicly demanded a quota within a quota for OBC women. Another MP, Ganga Charan Rajput, went to the extent of writing a letter to the Prime Minister expressing himself against the Bill. Therewere similar differences over the Ayodhya temple issue.

For the record, the BJP said today that the meetings with Rajju Bhaiyya were mainly on account of concern over his health. According to the BJP’s parliamentary office in-charge, Rajendra Sharma, an article in the RSS mouthpiece, Panchajanya, had set alarm bells ringing in the BJP. The article had said that Rajju Bhaiyya had been admitted to a Mumbai hospital. (The RSS chief suffers from enhanced diabetes and also is in the initial stages of Parkinson’s Disease.)

After reading the article, the BJP office was inundated with anxious inquiries about Rajju Bhaiyya, Sharma said. In order to satisfy them while not putting the RSS head to any strain, it was decided to arrange the meetings, he said, insisting that there was “nothing political, no issue” to prompt the move.

Since 224 MPs (both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha) is a large number, they have been divided into two groups. The first will meet Rajju Bhaiyya at the PM’s old residence, 7 Safdarjung Roadin Vajpayee’s presence. The second group will congregate at the RSS office at Jhandewalan. Home Minister L K Advani will be at that meeting.

Meanwhile, a meeting of the BJP Parliamentary Party was held this morning under the PM’s chairmanship. Besides the Cauvery issue, Gujarat MPs protested against a Government order that only iodised salt can be sold, pointing out that this would put a large number of small salt workers in the State out of business.

MPs also expressed concern over the rise in prices and called for measures to reverse the trend. They were not satisfied with Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha’s explanation about the reasons for the steep hike in prices (poor harvests, rise in administered prices and so on). Statistics were all very well, they said, but it was important to send a psychological message that the situation was under the Government’s control.