BENGALURU: A nine-decade-old tradition is set to be broken. The Akhila Bharatiya Prathinidi Sabha (ABPS), the highest decision-making body of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), is holding its election year meeting in Bengaluru on March 19 and 20. Until now, election year meetings were held every three years in Nagpur, the RSS headquarters.
The ABPS, headed by Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi, has traditionally preferred Nagpur as the venue for the election, but due to the lockdown and spike in Covid cases in Maharashtra, the meet has been shifted to Bengaluru. It was at the 2009 ABPS meeting in Nagpur that Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi was first elected, followed by a win in 2012, again in Nagpur, and was re-elected in 2015 and 2018 for a third and fourth term in the same city. This year, the ‘city of oranges’ was again the favourite, but the lockdown put paid to the plan to hold the ABPS session there,” said a senior RSS functionary.
The election of the general-secretary or Sarkaryavah is being held in Bengaluru for the first time in the history of the organisation. Joshi completes 12 years, and whether he will seek re-election is left to him and the Sangh leadership, the functionary said. If he continues, the 72-year-old Joshi will get another term till 2024, but if he prefers to step down, there are six people waiting to join the race -- Dattatreya Hosabale, V Bhagaiah, Suresh Soni, Krishna Gopal, Manmohan Vaidya and Mukunda CR. If there is more than one contestant, the matter will come up for election. Under organisational rules, anyone can participate, provided they hold an Akhila Bharata position.
The election is left to the Sangh leadership. The electoral college of about 500 members participates in voting, and consists of 11 divisional heads of the RSS, besides elected representatives from all states. The number has been reduced from 1,500 to 500, keeping Covid-19 in mind. Due to this, others from the states will be participating virtually.
Among the issues that will come up for discussion are RSS camps, which are normally held in April or May every year. Last year, many of them were cancelled because of Covid, and this year, they will take stock whether physical camps can be held. CM BS Yediyurappa and his officials are expected to visit the place on Tuesday to oversee the arrangements and meet important RSS functionaries before the meeting commences this weekend.