RSS meet: No invite for Advani

‘‘It is for the BJP to decide who else they want to send to Chitrakoot—they have not let us know yet,’’ Madhav said.

As for Advani’s call at Chennai last month, seeking a debate on BJP-RSS relations, Madhav claimed that it was not going to figure at Chitrakoot. The main agenda before the 350-odd delegates will be finalisation of the plans to celebrate M.S. Golwalkar’s birth cententary celebrations, discussion on the UPA government’s initiative in Jammu and Kashmir, minority appeasement stemming from Congress policies, such as reservation for Muslims in Andhra Pradesh, relief and rehabilitation efforts following the earthquake in Kashmir and ‘‘other issues of national importance’’.

Madhav’s disclaimer notwithstanding, RSS sources confirmed that Advani’s comments at Chennai were certain to come up—at least in informal discussions during the three-day meeting.

In fact, even as Madhav was denying such a possibility, RSS regional publicity chief in Punjab Kishore Kant told reporters in Jalandhar today that ‘‘the Sangh has taken note of Advani’s speech in which he suggested that Sangh should refrain from interfering in BJP’s functioning and it will be discussed at Chitrakoot’’.

Since the meeting will be attended by scores of pracharaks from across the country as well as representatives of affiliate organisations, many members are likely to raise the issue even if no formal resolution on the subject is adopted, sources said.

Advani, who attended the RSS national executive in Hardwar last November as well as its session in Mangalore in March this year, is unlikely to go to Chitrakoot to avoid facing direct attacks from members of the Sangh.

The fact that the VHP will be represented by Ashok Singhal and Praveen Togadia is also likely to dissuade Advani from attending the meet. Singhal and Togadia have been critical of Advani for long and boycotted the RSS’s Hardwar session last year to protest the BJP chief’s presence. That was much before Advani’s Pakistan yatra and his comments on Jinnah which enraged the VHP and the RSS.

At the RSS’s Surat conclave in July, there was an outcry against Advani’s praise for Jinnah. It was after that conclave the RSS leadership told Advani to make amends or quit.

Although Advani has fallen in line with the RSS diktat and announced his decision to step down in December, his refusal to amend his assessment of Jinnah has made him a hate figure in the lower ranks of the RSS and for the VHP leaders, sources said. The RSS leadership, though, is jubilant that Advani’s call for a debate on RSS-BJP ties has found no takers within his own party.

‘‘When members of his own team have underlined the mother-child relationship between the BJP and RSS and rejected any need to recast the ties, why should we take Advani’s Chennai speech seriously,’’ an RSS insider said.