The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has invited MLAs and ministers of the ruling coalition to visit the headquarters of its parent body Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Nagpur to pay tributes to the memories of Sangh founder KB Hedgewar and its second chief MS Golwalkar on Tuesday.
BJP’s new ally and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar who has repeatedly claimed that he will not give up on his secular credentials is unlikely to visit due to “other commitments”.
In a letter sent to all ministers, MLAs and MLCs on December 14, BJP’s chief whip in the legislative assembly Ashish Shelar invited all to the RSS headquarters, Reshimbaug to pay respects to Hedgewar and Golwalkar. The letter asked legislators to remain present at the RSS headquarters at 8 am. A line in the bracket mentions that the attendance is mandatory.
A senior leader from Ajit Pawar’s NCP said that the deputy Chief Minister has a scheduled interaction with the editors of local newspapers at 8 AM and is unlikely to go. “We have already scheduled the program of the interaction with editors at his official residence. I cannot comment on whether he will go or not,” the leader told The Indian Express.
Ajit and all the leaders who have joined the state government have been repeatedly saying that irrespective of them joining hands with the BJP, they have not given up on the secular credentials of the party as well as its ideology. After snapping ties with his uncle and NCP chief Sharad Pawar, the Ajit Pawar group has been using photograph of Maharashtra’s first Chief Minister late Yashvantrao Chavan. Sharad Pawar’s daughter and Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule in October took a dig at the Ajit Pawar group reminding him how Chavan was a staunch opponent of RSS and its ideology.
This story was originally published in indianexpress.com. Read the full story here .
