Bhagwat denies RSS hand in Gadkari appointment

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on Sunday claimed that his party had no role in the appointment of Nitin Gadkari as the national president of BJP.

"We don't have anything to do with any political party. It is also wrong to say that we appoint the president of a particular political party. We should not think so merely because one such newly appointed president of a party belongs to Nagpur, where the RSS has its headquarters," Bhagwat said without mentioning Gadkari or the BJP. " We consciously keep ourselves away from politics because it is our belief that politics divides the society," he said, while addressing a convention of Sangh workers in Lucknow on Sunday.

Interestingly, in November last year, Bhagwat had said the next BJP chief would be from "outside Delhi", sending out clear signals that none of the party's ' Fab Four' - Venkaiah Naidu, Ananth Kumar, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley - would get the president's chair.

On Sunday, Bhagwat took a U- turn and distanced himself from the controversy surrounding the appointment of Gadkari, a Nagpur- based BJP leader who enjoys a close association with the Sangh.

Bhagwat also rebuked BJP leaders for putting up banners to welcome him in Lucknow for the function.

"On my arrival in Lucknow, I saw some hoardings and banners raised to welcome me. I want to clarify that it is against the tradition of the RSS. It shouldn't happen.

But the problem is that some RSS members are politicians. So, their thinking has changed. They try to use the same political instruments everywhere. But the Sangh has little interest in politics," he said.

BJP leaders had put up hoardings and banners in Bhagwat's honour, but most were removed on Saturday morning on the direction of senior RSS leaders.

In his hour- long speech, Bhagwat also attacked the government for its response to the racist attacks on Indians in Australia.

"Indians are being attacked in foreign countries. But our government is silent because there is a lack of will power on our part," he said.

He criticised the RSS members for the Sangh's poor image and said, " We have been working for the last 84 years but people still don't know much about us because they don't get associated with us. It is not their fault. It is also not our fault. But we need to somehow reach out to them to convince them about our ideology."
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