RSS organ plugs for Munde

The Rashtriya Swaymsevak Sangh (RSS) weekly mouthpiece in Marathi, Vivek, has advised Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership to give the reins of the Maharashtra unit to a mass leader like Gopinath Munde and extend support to his anti terror campaign.

The editorial, in its latest issue, says Munde is the only leader in the BJP who has the credibility to launch such a campaign as leaders like LK Advani and Jaswant Singh have lost their credentials. If these leaders try to take up such a campaign, the ghosts of the Kandahar hijack, the attack on Parliament and Advani's statement on Pakistan's founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah will come to haunt them, the article says.

The editorial goes on to say that the only other leader with any credibility on such issues is Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray, but due to age and health, no one expects him to launch such a campaign. "But we salute his contribution to the cause of Hindutva," it added.

The article has come at crucial juncture. The central party leadership is trying to promote the collective leadership of Munde, state unit President Nitin Gadkari, General Secretary Vinod Tavde and former finance minister Eknath Khadse as it is finding it difficult to find any one person who can play the role of late Pramod Mahajan.

Munde, on his part, is trying to project himself as the political heir of Mahajan and hopes that after the organisational elections, he is made a central office-bearer and given charge of Maharashtra.

Earlier, the general impression in the BJP circles was that the party's state unit president Nitin Gadkari was in the good books of Sangh Parivar and Munde, due to his close association with Mahajan and his high-profile lifestyle, was not.

However, the editorial has changed the equations. It is now believed that at least a section of the Sangh in Maharashtra is firmly behind Munde.

Vivek is edited by the Sangh's dalit ideologue, Ramesh Patange, who plays an important role in framing Sangh's policies on social issues.