The RSS is set to move out Sunil Bansal, general secretary (organisation) of the Uttar Pradesh unit of the BJP, to Rajasthan before the elections there later this year. According to a source, the Sangh is in the process of exploring Bansal’s replacement, who will most likely be an RSS pracharak from another state — like Bansal, who comes from Rajasthan. With elections due in Rajasthan this year-end, he may get into electoral politics, the source said.
The Sangh, a top source said, is not inclined to appoint someone from “purely” RSS background, or who is with the ABVP, the Sangh’s students’ front, in UP at present. The new appointee will be from a “purely non-political” outfit of the Sangh, the source added.
Considered a key strategist and close to BJP president Amit Shah, Bansal was appointed to the post before 2014 Lok Sabha polls — he proved himself, with BJP winning 71 of 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP, and sweeping the Assembly elections last year.
The role of ‘sangathan mantri’, or general secretary (organisation), is very crucial in the BJP, and they are RSS appointees in the party.
The source told The Indian Express that RSS sah-sarkaryawah (joint-general secretary) Dattatreya Hosabale, who is the organisation’s UP affairs in-charge, and Dr Krishnagopal, the BJP in-charge in the Sangh, have discussed several possibilities to replace Bansal. “It has been decided that the new sangathan mantri must not be a UP-born person. That (criterion) is to avoid controversies, and (ensure) his ability to work impartially,” the source said.
RSS leaders, it is learnt, have identified some such pracharaks and they are being persuaded to leave their present duties to join the new job.
Sources said an announcement in this regard may be made any time after the by-elections to Kairana Lok Sabha and Noorpur Assembly seats in UP on May 28.
Before taking up the present position in UP, Bansal worked for the BJP in Punjab. Prior to that, he was a pracharak with ABVP.
Bansal is believed to have had not-too-cordial relations with eastern UP ‘kshetra pracharak’ Shiv Narayan, who was recently transferred to Delhi — and both did not enjoy a very warm relationship with UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, sources said. The new kshetra pracharak, Anil Kumar, who replaced Shiv Narayan, has good rapport with Adityanath, sources added.
Bansal was appointed to assist Amit Shah during the Lok Sabha elections in 2014 since relations between then BJP state chief Laxmikant Bajpai and then sangathan mantri Rakesh Jain were not good. Jain was later transferred to Sewa Bharti, an RSS outfit, to work as sangathan mantri there.
Source: Indianexpress
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