Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, July 29

In a significant development signalling a thaw between the ruling BJP and its ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), top leaders from the two organisations met in the Capital on Monday evening to discuss coordination and strategy for the upcoming Haryana Assembly elections.

Both put differences aside

• The RSS was represented in the meeting by its national joint general secretary Arun Kumar. He is a critical interface between the RSS and its political arm, the BJP
• His presence in the meeting indicated that the Sangh had put its differences with the BJP behind to focus on the job at hand

This was the first meeting of the BJP and Sangh leaders since the announcement of the 2024 Lok Sabha results, in which the ruling party fell short of a simple majority, leading to dependence on allies — a development that was attributed to a range of reasons, RSS' indifference in later stages of the election being a major one.

Today's Haryana election strategy meeting, which commenced at 6 pm and was still underway at 10 pm at 11 Ashoka Road, the erstwhile BJP headquarters, saw the presence of senior functionaries from both the Sangh and BJP, with BJP general secretary organisation BL Santosh in attendance.

From the BJP side, the meeting was attended by Haryana CM Nayab Singh Saini (who came down for the same from Chandigarh); former CM ML Khattar, Haryana election in-charge and Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, poll co-in charge Biplab Deb, state BJP in-charge Satish Poonia and BJP Haryana chief Mohan Lal Badoli.

The RSS was represented by its national joint general secretary Arun Kumar. Also present was Pawan Jindal, Haryana RSS in-charge, along with other Sangh functionaries from the state. Sources said winning Haryana and subsequently, Jharkhand poll was key to the BJP-led NDA government's longevity at the Centre as it would grant the ruling dispensation a psychological edge at a time when the Congress-led INDIA bloc was becoming progressively aggressive.

At the meeting, the RSS leaders are learnt to have given ground feedback to Saini and the BJP Haryana poll team and discussed the challenge of anti-incumbency, with the BJP holding power in the state for 10 years.

Although attempts have been made to ward off anti-incumbency with the replacement of Khattar with Saini, it remains to be seen if that has worked on the ground and constant review and surveys in the state would need to be done to assess voters' mood.

Sources said the meeting was very critical given the importance of Haryana to national politics, as also to the politics of Delhi, which goes to polls in 2025.