Delhi polls: RSS takes poll position in BJP's campaign

NEW DELHI: With the Delhi unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party in disarray, the RSS has stepped in to help the party prepare for the coming Assembly elections. From monitoring the campaign to screening and selection of potential candidates, the RSS pracharaks are working closely with the BJP's core team in Delhi, and each of the 70 Assembly seats has been assigned one pracharak to help the party in organizational matters.

They in turn will be taking help from RSS cadres to micromanage the campaigning, especially to counter the Aam Aadmi Party's ( AAP’s) door-to-door approach. Delhi MLA and national secretary RP Singh confirmed the close involvement of RSS in the Assembly election process, but added there was nothing unusual in it.

"Not just the RSS, other nationalist organisations under the Sangh umbrella are also helping out," he said, without going into further details. Another BJP leader, preferring not to be identified, admitted that the RSS had intervened in a big way this time since the state unit of the party is at its weakest. "The Delhi unit has had four presidents in five years. There's too much infighting and constant upheavals. The RSS is aware that Delhi needs more attention, especially if the BJP has to win with a clear majority," the leader explained. An RSS pracharak too confirmed a greater role for the organization in the coming elections.

"Fighting elections is a systematic, almost scientific, process. The systems and mechanisms are completely missing from the Delhi BJP. There aren't enough boots on the ground to manage the booth level canvassing," he said. It's not as if the RSS is imposing itself on the Delhi BJP.

"We did not volunteer to manage the elections for the BJP. It is the senior Delhi leaders who approached us. They do not want a hung Assembly this time. Delhi is a complex pie," the RSS leader said. Also the fact that Delhi president Satish Upadhyaya is from the Sangh stable, helps in the coordination process.