NEW DELHI: Faced with a rebellion in the party ranks in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, the BJP is counting on its ideological parent, Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh (RSS), to steady the election machinery of the party.
The BJP is drawing comfort from the Congress’s aggressive posturing against the RSS, as it is likely to provoke the cadre of the Sangh to hit the road and canvass for the party nominees in the two states.
While the BJP denied nominations to 43 sitting legislators in MP, it axed 40 MLAs in the first two lists for Rajasthan. Seemingly aware that the axed legislators would fan out in rebellion against the official nominees, the BJP has apparently gone the extra mile to accommodate recommendations of the RSS in Rajasthan. Sources said that the BJP acceded to the RSS wish in at Congress leaders have been on the offensive against the RSS in the state. It has provided enough provocation to the RSS to aggressively back the BJP nominees,” a senior functionary of the BJP said.
On the lines of Gujarat, MP is also considered to be an RSS laboratory. The Sangh is believed to be heavily embedded in the state of affairs of the state.
Though the RSS leaders in Rajasthan, sources said, aren’t much enthused by the leadership of Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, the BJP is counting on the strength of its saffron mentor to counter Congress’s determined bid to wrest power in the state.
“Our party president has been highly accommodative of the RSS in Rajasthan, as part of the overall strategy to negate the anti-incumbency factor against the Raje government, by dropping more than 35 per cent of the sitting MLAs. The BJP-RSS coordination is functioning at its best in the state and the effort is not to allow the Congress to stage a comeback in the state and build a campaign against the Modi government in the 2019 elections,” the BJP functionary said.
Banking on mentor
Sources said that in MP, BJP vice-president Vinay Sahashrabuddhe has prepared a blueprint for micro-management at the booth level, which is being executed in close coordination by the BJP-RSS cadre. In Rajasthan, the BJP is counting on the strength of the RSS to counter Congress determined bid to wrest power.