PM reaches out to RSS

By Harish Khare

NEW DELHI, MAY 12. On the eve of the declaration of results of the Assembly polls, the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, has sought to make his peace with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) - the difficult customers in his own backyard. He hosted a lunch on Friday for three senior RSS functionaries, Mr. H.V. Seshadri, Mr. Madan Devi Das, and Mr. M.G. Vaidya. The RSS chief, Mr. S. Sudarshan, was out of town and could not partake of the delicacies at the Prime Minister's residence.

The RSS and its various frontal organizations have been critical of the Vajpayee Government's economic policies. On his part, Mr. Vajpayee is reported to have taken serious objection to the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh president, Mr. Dattopant Thengadi's comment calling the Union Finance Minister, Mr. Yashwant Sinha, ``a criminal.''

Mindful of the impending tilting of the political balance against the NDA Government, the Prime Minister has reached out, first, to his own Home Minister, Mr. L.K. Advani and now, to the RSS. The idea seems to be to consolidate internal forces, against the likely onslaught of a rejuvenated Opposition.

For the record, the BJP termed the lunch as nothing special, and RSS sources also suggested that such meetings did take place now and then. However, it is understood that the Sangh Parivar functionaries have agreed to eschew at least their public criticism of the Government's policies.

Still, the Sangh leaders made it clear to Mr. Vajpayee that their reservations remained unaddressed and, in any case, Mr. Thengadi was too senior a leader to be restrained by anyone.

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