Modi hosts RSS leaders at dinner

NEWDELHI:Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted a dinner meeting for key leaders of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at his residence in Delhi on Friday, sources said.

The meeting comes at a time when the BJP has begun preparing for assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and may need the help of RSS cadres to fight antiincumbency to retain power.

While details of the meeting were not known, Modi is learnt to have interacted with leaders gathered in Haryana’s Surajkund for a three-day meeting that started on Thursday. The Surajkund meeting is an annual feature, where BJP and RSS leaders take stock of organisational issues and plan for the future.

“The PM had hosted the functionaries last year as well. He is part of the Sangh Parivaar and interacts with the leaders at regular intervals,” said a person who did not wish to be identified.

The meeting in Surajkund is being attended by RSS general secretary Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi, joint general secretaries Dattatreya Hosable and Krishna Gopal. BJP president Amit Shah is expected to be present on Saturday, sources said.

It is learnt that emphasis was laid on achieving greater coordination between organisational secretaries and the full-time senior functionaries of the RSS for “seamless communication and exchange of ideas”.

A senior functionary of the RSS said that the agenda of the meeting largely revolves around streamlining and strengthening the organisation.

“Electoral politics is not the mainstay of the meeting. Focus is on the organisation, how to run it better and effective coordination between the Sangh and the BJP.”