RSS GEN SECRETARIES TO PLAY KEY ROLE IN 2019

NEWDELHI: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)’s sangathan mantris (organisational general secretaries) will have a role in all election-related decision making ahead of the 2019 general elections and the assembly polls in four states this year, people familiar with the developments said.

RSS functionaries said the organisational general secretaries are involved in decision making, but now a “concerted move” has been made to ensure their participation in every aspect of electoral preparations.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s ideological parent deputes organisational general secretaries to the party to oversee coordination. They are the central link between the RSS and the BJP.

“To strengthen coordination between the Sangh and the party, the role of sangathan mantris will be reinforced and this decision has been taken after a series of meetings between the RSS brass and Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) president Amit Shah,” a Sangh functionary said, who did not want to be identified.

The process of involving sangathan mantris in candidate selection, zeroing in on key poll planks and the precise details of campaigning was first tried out during the 2017 Uttar Pradesh (UP) assembly elections and in the Karnataka elections in May.

“In both the states, the experiment was a success. BJP won with an unprecedented mandate in UP, where it bagged 312 of the 403 seats and in coastal Karnataka and Malnad regions, it won 28 out of 33 seats in the assembly elections,” the functionary said.

The party has now been decided to allow sangathan mantris to have a greater say in decision making,” he added.

Differences over candidate selection and inclusion of members from other parties have in the past led to disagreements between the RSS and the BJP.