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To Avoid Bihar-Like Misfire, RSS Talks UP Plan With 30 Ministers

NEW DELHI:  Top Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS leaders are meeting about 30 union ministers from the BJP today to finalise a strategy for the Uttar Pradesh elections. It is being called a coordination meeting to ensure the BJP and its ideological mentor are in sync for the crucial election.

"There is need for the BJP and the RSS to calibrate their strategy for the UP polls like we did in the Assam polls. The RSS does not want a Bihar-like situation where poor coordination impacted the outcome," said a senior RSS leader.

A cabinet minister said the RSS also wants to fix what it is calling a code of conduct for the UP elections. During the Bihar elections last year, comments by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and BJP leaders like General VK Singh were seen to have hurt the party in its efforts to win over sections of voters.  The BJP was handed a crushing defeat by the coalition led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP senses its best chance in years to form government and so the emphasis on better coordination. The party is yet to decide on who the face of the election will be and is  still struggling to find an election agenda around which it will build its campaign.

The meeting, said a minister, also aims at better communication between ministers frame government policy and the RSS, whose vast cadres in states like UP are used by the party to carry its message to voters. Today’s meeting will discuss how to spread word about the Modi Government’s pro-poor policies.

Strategy not just for the UP elections but also for the other states that vote in 2017, including Punjab and Gujarat, could be discussed today, sources said.

RSS deputy chief Dattatreya Hosbole is said to be presiding over the meetings, which began at 8 in the morning and are being held in small batches. BJP chief Amit Shah will drop in for key discussions and home minister Rajnath Singh and Finance Min Arun Jaitley are among the ministers who will participate.

Coordination meetings between the RSS and the BJP are an annual feature. Unlike last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not expected to attend today.