RSS brainstorming meet starts with ministers, BJP leaders

NEW DELHI: Members of BJP parliamentary board on Wednesday made a beeline for participating in the three-day conclave of the party’s ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh organised to strengthen coordination within the affiliated organisations.

Apart from BJP chief Amit Shah, top ministers in the Narendra Modi government, including home minister Rajnath Singh, finance minister Arun Jaitley, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, transport minister Nitin Gadkari, urban development minister Venkaiah Naidu, chemicals and fertilisers minister Ananth Kumar and health minister JP Nadda, joined the deliberations on the first day. Defence minister Manohar Parrikar also attended the day-long session. The first day of the conclave saw deliberations on issues related to economy, people privy to the details said. Commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman and agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh also joined the deliberations.

“There are a clutch of issues related to agriculture and industry sectors that are slated for discussion,” BJP general secretary and RSS pracharak Ram Madhav told the media. The meeting has not been called for reviewing the working of the government, he said. PM Modi is also likely to join the deliberations as per his convenience. MP chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who is also the member of BJP parliamentary board, could not attend the meeting because of his unavailability, but he is likely to drop in on the third day of the deliberations on September 4.

The meeting assumes significance since it is the biggest gathering of RSS’ affiliate organisations with top ministers to exchange notes on the government’s actions and feedback from RSS workers on the ground about burning issues. Earlier, the government and RSS affiliates have been engaged on sector-specific issues, with the latter flagging their concerns to the relevant ministers to minimise public confrontation with the ruling establishment.