Varanasi seat row: RSS worried, Joshi downplays it

Bangalore/New Delhi: RSS on Sunday stepped into the reported Varanasi seat row between BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and senior leader Murli Manohar Joshi,  saying it is "worried" even as the BJP downplayed it.   "We are worried... But we feel they (BJP) are experienced  enough as we had seen on earlier occasions. They are capable.  They will solve the problem," RSS General Secretary Suresh  Bhaiyaji Joshi told reporters on the concluding day of the  three-day meet of its top policy making body, Akhil Bharatiya  Pratinidhi Sabha in Bangalore.  

In Delhi, breaking his silence on the issue, M M Joshi  said he would accept any decision the party takes like a  "disciplined soldier" and hoped it would neither dent the PM  candidate's prestige nor hurt party's electoral chances.   The reported controversy over who will contest from  Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency had reportedly found its echo  at BJP's Central Election Committee meeting in Delhi  yesterday.   Sources said some members sought clarity as to whether  M M Joshi would be moved from Varanasi and Modi would contest  from there.

Among those who are believed to have been keen to  make the point are Joshi himself as well as Sushma Swaraj.   Swaraj on Sunday denied in Vidisha (Madhya Pradesh) that  there was any rift in the party on the issue. "I was present  in the meeting in Delhi yesterday. Lok Sabha seats for UP did  not figure in the deliberations as reported in the media".   The RSS leader said, "These things are decided by  political party. If a person wants to express his views, there  is nothing wrong in it."  

Asked about the Sangh's stand on whether senior leaders  like L K Advani should contest elections, he said RSS cannot  direct the party (BJP), but can only give an indication.   However, young people should be given an opportunity to  render service to the nation with their youthful energy. At  the same time, it is beneficial to have the guidance of senior  leaders, he said.

M M Joshi, who had won from Varanasi last time, said the  party's Central Election Committee would take a decision on  March 13 and rejected reports of a poster war between  supporters of Modi and him in the constituency as the "mental  fiction" of media.   "The decision will be taken by Parliamentary Board. A  meeting (of CEC) is taking place on March 13," he told  reporters.  

Asked if he would accept a decision to field Modi from  the prestigious eastern UP seat, he shot back, "every  disciplined soldier accepts" party's decision.   "I don't talk about such issues outside. Whatever I say  is within the party," he said to repeated questions over his  stand on the row.   "The party would take a decision which will neither dent  the prestige of our PM candidate nor compromise party's  winning chances," he said.   The senior BJP leader is understood to have expressed his  unhappiness in the CEC meeting over reports that Modi will be  fielded from Varanasi and sought clarification from the  leadership.