Vajpayee visit's RSS' Delhi office

In what is being seen as a politically significant move, former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and BJP President LK Advani together visited the RSS' Delhi headquarters today.

This was one of Vajpayee's rare visits to Keshav Kunj for consultations.

For the BJP, today's visit was the first public and formal acknowledgment of the supremacy of the Sangh and the need to check the growing alienation among its different branches and the BJP.

The meeting of the two leaders with RSS General Secretary Mohan Bhagwat, Joint General Secretary Madan Das Devi and several leaders, including HV Seshadri and Suresh Soni, followed Advani's meeting with RSS chief K Sudarshan in Nagpur last month.

The RSS is holding its national executive in Haridwar from November 5. This was the first official stocktaking after the Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly elections and the appointment of Advani as BJP president.

Sources in the RSS said the organisation was conscious that the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) was angry with the BJP for a variety of reasons including the fact that the Ram Mandir could not be built despite the BJP being in power and was even talking of floating a political party parallel to the BJP because it had disappointed the expectations of the Hindus.

It was important, these sources said, to have conveyed to the VHP that the RSS still had the BJP under its control.

RSS spokesman Ram Madhav later told reporters Advani would be taking part in the RSS national executive meeting along with party general secretary Sanjay Joshi.

Although Madhav was not present at the meeting himself, he made it clear to reporters that it was the Sangh that did the talking and RSS leaders who apprised Vajpayee and Advani of the views of organisations vis-a-vis the political situation.

When asked what the RSS' expectations from the BJP, Madhav said: "We have always expected them to take a clear stand on ideology." He was even more cut and dry when asked about JD-U's reservation to Advani invoking the Ram temple issue at the BJP national council here last week.

"We believe that all parties should remain firm on their ideology and we expect BJP also to do so", Madhav said. When asked how Advani would strike a balance between 'Hindutva' and the compulsions of a coalition, Madhav said: "it is for Advani and his party to decide... BJP knows how to handle the situation".

Although it is well known that the Sangh is not happy about LK Advani's team which, in its view, just reshuffles old faces, Madhav said: "The formation of a team is the prerogative of BJP and its leadership."