BENGALURU: RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat and Sarkaryavah Suresh Bhjaiyyaji Joshi offered floral tributes to the portrait of Bharat Mata, marking the inauguration of the RSS’ highest decision-making body, the Akhila Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha, at Channenahalli in Western Bengaluru on Friday.
While the buzz is that a new Sarkaryavah will be elected, there is still no clarity on who would succeed Bhaiyyaji Joshi, who has completed four terms of three years each. He has been a Sarkaryavah, or general secretary, since 2009... for the same length of time that Mohan Bhagawat has been Sarsanghchalak.
If Bhaiyyaji Joshi does not get elected again, those in the contention are six joint general secretaries (Sah Sarkaryavahs) — Suresh Soni, Krishna Gopal, Dattatreya Hosabale, Manmohan Vaidya, V Bhagaiah and C R Mukunda. There is also a possibility that the RSS leadership could pick someone else, sources from the organisation said.
While the elections are slated for Saturday, there may not be an election as the next Sarkaryavah could ‘arise’ by consensus. Considering the tradition of the RSS, there may not be an election with the usual campaigns, voting and results. The winner would be announced by the leadership in a process supervised by Suresh Bhaiyaji Joshi and Mohan Bhagawat by Saturday afternoon, the sources said.
Though normally the Akhila Bharatiya Prathinidhi Sabha is attended by around 1,500 participants, there are only around 450 delegates present at Channenahalli because of Covid restrictions. Asked about who could be the Sarkaryavah, the sources said, “Wait till Saturday afternoon and the results will be out.”