RSS to leaders: Don’t lobby for ticket-seekers

The RSS has asked its pracharaks to not personally approach the BJP state and district units to lobby for ticket seekers for the forthcoming UP polls. The RSS has received complaints from the BJP state and district units that some pracharaks were mounting pressure on them to include the names of individuals close to them.

While the majority of the RSS and BJP functionaries in UP want the party to project a face during the forthcoming polls, the party has also been told “not to impose any outsider or any leader, who has already been rejected by the electorate during previous elections, including that of the Lok Sabha.”

The RSS has conveyed to the BJP that the party needed to be “cautious” in projecting leaders for the forthcoming UP polls.

The big brother of the Sangh Parivar made it clear that the leaders projected for the UP polls should have grassroot connections, like Ms Vasundhara Raje in Rajasthan, Mr Shivraj Singh Chauhan in Madhya Pradesh and Mr B.S. Yeddyurappa in Karnataka.

Any imposition of leaders from outside the state or who had lost elections could “yield poor results,” the RSS told the BJP, sources said.

The BJP has also been told to draw up the list of castes and address the “principle aspiration” of those castes. The RSS has also conducted workshops with its local units and functionaries in Uttar Pradesh to assess the performance of major BJP leaders in the state.

It may be recalled that a similar survey of its local leaders was conducted by the BJP between June 15 to July 15. The survey report was handed over to the BJP high command on July 20.

Despite reports that the BJP might go faceless in the forthcoming UP polls, the survey strongly favoured the projection of a leader to lead the polls.

A senior RSS leader during a recent meeting of the outfit in which BJP president Amit Shah was present pointed out that “wherever the Ganga flows we find ourselves barren of a central figure. This is a major failure.” The leader gave the example of Bengal, Bihar and UP, where the BJP has been struggling to find a central figure around whom the party’s campaign could be framed.

Meanwhile, to woo the dalits, the BJP will deploy its backward faces. Mr Shah at this juncture is focusing on booth level and set up committees which are co-ordinating with the party high command on a regular basis.