To reverse slide in Sangh,BJP popularity,RSS chief in UP again for 11 days

The three-day national executive meeting of the RSS will be held in Gorakhpur,considered to be Sangh stronghold for last several decades.

About 400 RSS functionaries from all over the country would attend the national executive in Gorakhpur.

This is the first time when the RSS chief will spend so many days in UP. In November last year,Bhagwat had undertaken a seven-day tour of the state and held meeting with RSS functionaries in all six areas,namely Kashi,Goraksh,Awadh,Kanpur,Meerut and Braj.

His last visit was considered to be important in view of the reports of a big fall in the number of shakhas and young pracharaks.

“It also shows Bhagwat’s serious concern for improving the BJP’s prospect in UP before the 2012 assembly elections,’’ said another source in RSS.

Dr Prithviraj,head of RSS Goraksh Prant,said Bhagwat would attend a Vijayadashmi celebration on the campus of Maharana Pratap Inter College. There he will speak on the current situation in the country.

The source said this is perhaps the first time when an RSS chief would attend a function to be organised in the name of Vijayadashmi celebration outside the RSS headquarters in Nagpur.

“Vijayadashmi is celebrated as the RSS foundation day. Although Bhagwat will address workers and supporters in Nagpur on Vijayadashmi day on October 6,he is going to attend a formal function in the name of Vijayadashmi outside Nagpur perhaps for the first time,” the source said.

However,holding the national executive away from Nagpur is not new. “About three years back,RSS held a meeting of its Pratinidhi Sabha in Lucknow,” a source recalled.