At three day annual meet RSS to discuss polls, AAP phenomena

NEW DELHI: With just a month to go for the general elections, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh will discuss threadbare at the three-day meet that got underway in Bangalore on Thursday the reports submitted by its state-level office-bearers on the situation in their areas.

Politics is not on the agenda of the annual pre-Holi meet, said RSS spokesman Manmohan Vaidya. However, other RSS functionaries confirmed that the 41 pranth pracharaks would submit a report each at the Akhil Bharatiya Karyakarini Mandali, which comprises of the sanghachalaks, karyavaha and pranth pracharaks.

Among other issues, RSS will discuss the emergence of the AAP, which bears “some of the strengths of the RSS, which is door-to-door personalised campaign”, a member of the Sangh said. The RSS had discussed the AAP last October as well, at a meet in Kochi ahead of the Delhi assembly elections.

In the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls, the Sangh has been intensely involved in micromanagement of constituencies. From starting a voter registration drive from January to assigning senior RSS leaders like Krishna Gopal, Dattatreya Hosabele, V Satish and Saudan Singh to keep an eye on Uttar Pradesh, southern and eastern states respectively, to assigning at least two dozen personnel per booth to reach out to voters, the RSS’ imprint is firmly on the BJP’s 2014 campaign. At the ongoing meet, the national office-bearers of organisations affiliated to the Sangh will also report on preparations for the general elections.