Ahead of Punjab Assembly polls, RSS seeks feedback on 11-point agenda

Vishav Bharti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 30

As the Assembly elections are approaching, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) seems to have pushed its entire machinery into service to swing the election in the favour of BJP.

According to sources, the right wing organisation has deputed its vistharkas (constituency incharges) in all constituencies and has asked them to send day-to-day report on 11 points, including the photographs of the people they are meeting.

The 11 points on which information has been sought include meeting with booth incharges, BJP activists and families associated with RSS, local influential people, NGOs, other parties, MC and panchayat candidates and meeting beneficiaries of the schemes started by the central government.

Besides, they have been asked to share information on the local gurdwaras and temples. The RSS activists have also been asked to share photographs of the people they have met and activities they have conducted.

Sources said the information was being directly monitored by Pavan Rana, BJP’s state general secretary (organisation) in Chandigarh. This is the post on which generally a sangh pracharak is appointed.

Significantly, as a junior ally with the Shiromani Akali Dal, BJP had been contesting just 23 Assembly and three Lok Sabha seats in Punjab. This is the first time in the past almost 25 years that the BJP will contest as a main ally in a pre-poll coalition. There is possibility that the saffron party can contest over 70 seats in alliance with the Captain Amarinder Singh-led Punjab Lok Congress and the Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa-led Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt).