BHOPAL, MARCH 11: The realisation that Congress president Sonia Gandhi was made to honour an Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) veteran amid high-pitched rhetoric during her recent visit to the State has left party leaders red-faced.That Shashi Bhai Seth - one of the nine persons honoured by Sonia in Bhopal on March 2 at the silver jubilee celebrations of the Rashtriya Yuvak Parishad patronised by Congress Working Committee (CWC) member Arjun Singh - is an RSS veteran is known to most in the political circles here. Currently, he is vibhag sanchalak (divisional head) of the RSS at Bhopal.However, no one in the Congress is prepared to own up the responsibility.Rashtriya Yuvak Parishad president Narinder Mathur was not available for his comments. Parishad officials available were not willing to come on record. They, however, confirmed that Seth's RSS connections did figure in the meeting of its executive which decided to honour all its state presidents and nine others.It was decided to honour Seth despite his known RSS connections because ``the Parishad is not a political organisation'' a senior functionary said on condition of anonymity.Seth, who said he deliberately agreed to accept the honour from Sonia ``to expose the Congress double-face'', is one of the four permanent invitees to the Parishad's national executive, informs a souvenir issued by the organisation on the occasion of its silver jubilee.The souvenir, which was released by Sonia at the function, contains messages from the Parishad's well wishers - which include former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar, Arjun Singh and P.A. Sangma, as well as hardliners within the BJP like Home Minister L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi.Parishad officials admit that it was Arjun Singh, who persuaded Sonia to inaugurate the silver jubilee function. They, however, maintain that Singh didn't know about the identity of the Parishad workers being honoured.``The incident is being blown up to denigrate Arjun Singh,'' one of them said. A section of Congressmen in Bhopal agree with this.Not so Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) district chief Dilip Khandelwal: ``It exposes the hollowness of Sonia's anti-RSS tirade and Digvijay Singh can't claim that he knew nothing of Seth's antecedents.''The State government and police had checked the antecedents of all those coming near Sonia in view of the Z security the Congress president enjoyed, concede State officials. Some in party think Digvijay may have overlooked Seth's RSS connection deliberately.``He must have known that it would embarrass Arjun Singh,'' feels a senior leader.Whatever the reality - Sonia being conned into honouring an RSS activists is being used by several Congress heavyweights in securing their nomination for one of the four Rajya Sabha seats Congress can win in the State in elections due next month.Apart from Singh, serious aspirants for a berth in the Upper House include AICC spokesman Ajit Jogi, former Union minister V C Shukla, AICC general secretary Moti Lal Vora and MPCC chief Radha Krishan Malaviya, among others.There is another ironic twist to Sonia honouring an RSS old hand. The function was to be held in 1995 and Sonia got the opportunity to inaugurate it only in March 2000 after the organisers failed to get it done from any VVIP despite persistent efforts. Significantly, the VVIPs the organisers tried to invite for the inauguration during these five years ranged from former Prime Ministers P V Narasimha Rao, H D Deve Gowda, I K Gujral and even Atal Behari Vajpeyi, a source said.``Rao had agreed to do it in Delhi in March 1995 but we had to give up the idea because Arjun Singh had left the Congress,'' the sources said.After that, the organisers tried to invite subsequent UF and even BJP PMs. They also tried to get former President Dr Shanker Dayal Sharma.The organisers tried to get Home Minister Advani, former PM Chandra Shekhar and even Mamata Bannerjee without success. And their five-year quest for a VVIP ended on March 2 when Sonia Gandhi agreed to do the honour.
