BJP President Amit Shah meets RSS chief

Ujjain (MP): BJP president Amit Shah met Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) supremo Mohan Bhagwat here today evening, the first interaction between the two after the BJP retained power in Gujarat and wrested Himachal Pradesh from the Congress.

It also came against the backdrop of simmering tension in Maharashtra over violence against Dalits for which pro-Hindutva leaders have been blamed.

Shah reached here by a helicopter from Indore Airport and had a meeting with Bhagwat at the Madhav Sewa Nyas building near Mahakal temple.

The meeting lasted for about an hour, RSS sources said, without elaborating on what transpired at the meeting. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was also seen entering the building with Shah, but it was not known if he was present during the meeting.

Later, Shah, RSS’s second in command–Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi and Chouhan visited an exhibition at the ‘Shaiv Mahotsav-2018’, which was inaugurated in Bhagwat’s presence in the morning. Shah later returned to Indore.

On Wednesday and Thursday Bhagwat chaired a two-day meeting of the RSS here.

“The Sangh convenes two meetings annually where the conditions prevalent in the country are discussed,” RSS spokesperson Manmohan Vaidya had said.

Representatives of the BJP, ABVP, Bharatiya Kisan Sangh and other members of the Sangh family participated in the meeting.

Vaidya said more than two lakh youth joined the RSS between January and June 2017, while the number of ‘Shakhas’ (morning classes) too increased during the period.

PTI