Final decision in BJP’s hands: RSS

NAGPUR: The RSS has left the final decision on embattled external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje to the BJP leadership, top functionaries of the outfit said on Friday.

According to RSS insiders, senior Sangh leaders like Mohan Bhagwat, Bhaiyyaji Joshi and Krishna Gopal have already communicated their stand to the party leadership.

RSS ideologue MG Vaidya told HT it was an internal issue of the BJP and the party was free to take any decision regarding Swaraj and Raje.

“Why should RSS intervene in the matter as (the) BJP is compe- tent enough to take its decision on these issues in view of its image? I am confident that the BJP would take an appropriate decision in this regard,” he said

The BJP-led NDA government is facing its first major political crisis after it emerged that Swaraj and Raje had helped former IPL chairperson Lalit Modi in procuring UK immigration documents. Modi is wanted in India for alleged money laundering and fraud. To add to the party’s woes, a Delhi court admitted a fake-degree case against Union human resource development minister Smriti Irani while Maharashtra minister Pankaja Munde is allegedly entangled in a ` 206-crore scam.

Vaidya, a former senior functionary of the Sangh, pointed out that in the case of Munde, it has emerged that the beneficiary contactor was a Congressman.

Another senior swayamsevak, who preferred anonymity, said RSS chief Bhagwat had a talk with top BJP functionaries, including president Amit Shah, over the Swaraj and Raje issue and left the party to take a decision. However, he also cautioned them that the party’s image should not take a hit before the assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

The RSS had earlier justified the BJP’s stand on Swaraj and pointed out that she was not involved in any kind of corruption and what she did for Modi was purely on humanitarian grounds.

Dilip Deodhar, a former senior RSS swayamsevak and an RSS observer, pointed out that both the issues might be of concern for the RSS and particularly Bhagwat, but given his working style he would not intervene in the issue and allow the party to take a decision.

“The RSS is with Swaraj as there is no allegation against her and what she did was on sheer humanitarian grounds,” Deodhar added and claimed that it was view of all its leaders.

BHAGWAT ALLEGEDLY CAUTIONED THE BJP LEADERS THAT THE PARTY’S IMAGE SHOULD NOT TAKE A HIT BEFORE THE UP, BIHAR POLLS