New Delhi, August 28
Amidst spectacle of tension between the BJP and the RSS over the reluctance of Leader of Opposition in Parliament LK Advani to step aside paving way for the younger generation, RSS chief Mohanrao Bhagwat stuck to his stand favouring Advani’s early retirement.

Whatever is happening in BJP is not good. Lok Sabha poll results have given it a severe jolt. It will have to regain balance. I feel it will be able to do it… It will rise from the ashes. — Mohan Bhagwat, RSS chief

Bhagwat met the media here today at the RSS headquarters, Keshav Kunj, but continued ducking most questions pertaining to Advani and consequent generational change in the BJP.

He repeatedly said, “I have spoken about this in my interview with Times Now”. In that interview, he had disclosed that Advani had expressed desire to step down and later changed his mind. Denying that he or the sangh had persuaded Advani to stay on, Bhagwat said, “Both decisions were his.”

Pleading that the BJP was autonomous, Bhagwat reiterated, “Whatever decisions have to be taken, they (BJP) have to decide.” The sangh has no relations with the BJP. “We have our swayamsevaks there and if they seek our advice, we help them. We don’t give unsolicited advice,” the sangh chief maintained.

But he admitted that BJP president Rajnath Singh and senior leader Murli Manohar Joshi came to see him yesterday. He said, “Yes, he (Rajnath) came and met me. We discussed things. I told him what I had stated earlier and he assured that they will arrive at a consensus.” Bhagwat was referring to open infighting in the BJP.

As a sequel to this, four other BJP leaders from the Advani camp, namely Sushma Swaraj, Ananth Kumar, Arun Jaitley and M Venkaiah Naidu, called on the RSS chief today, leading to speculations in political circles that jockeying for next BJP president and also Advani’s successor had begun.

Meanwhile, sources in the BJP attributed great significance to Bhagwat’s interaction with the media. A party source claimed, “Generally you don’t hear of RSS chief or even other sangh leaders speak anything about the BJP in public. The fact that such a senior sangh leader has chosen to express himself, howsoever cautiously, underlines the sangh’s concern with whatever is going on in the BJP. While the BJP house doesn’t show any signs of settling down, today’s message is very clear that the sooner it is put in order the better it is for all concerned. That is why leader after leader is going and meeting him.”

But the RSS leader and his colleagues face a real problem of tremendous age gap between the young RSS crop and the ageing BJP leaders and Bhagwat admitted this when he objected to a reporter describing the BJP a child of the RSS and said, “The BJP cannot be treated a recalcitrant child since almost all leaders there are considerably older than us.” Sources attributed Bhagwat’s caution to this. But he did express his concern over the infighting in that party saying, “Whatever is happening in the BJP is not good and it should stop. Whatever has to be done by the party to put in place a system and corrective measures, it is for them to do.”

There was even more concern in an implicit and indirect remark of the sangh chief when by way of defence he said, “It (the BJP) is capable of resurrecting itself from the ashes,” implying that the way it is going down it might burn itself to cinders and ashes soon.

However, Bhagwat’s reluctance to criticise BJP MP Arun Shourie, who had derided both Advani and Rajnath Singh and also invited the RSS to take over the party appointing a presidium of 10 men of integrity, showed that the sangh chief was not displeased with Shourie’s surmise. About Shourie, Bhagwat said, “I cannot comment on him. He is a respected intellectual. I don’t want to comment on what he said.” He denied any plans to take over the BJP saying the sangh had neither time nor inclination to interfere in the BJP affairs.