RSS eyes expansion in Scindia bastion

Bhopal: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has firmed up its strategy to expand its base in Guna Lok Sabha constituency, considered the traditional bastion of Scindia dynasty of Gwalior, in Madhya Pradesh, leaving the ruling Congress here worried.

The decision by the RSS to hold its ‘Yuva sankalp Shibir’, the youth camp, in Guna is a part of the strategy by the sangh to ‘expand and then consolidate’ its base in Guna in the wake of BJP wresting the Lok Sabha constituency from Congress veteran Jyotiraditya Scindia in the last polls, Sangh sources disclosed to this newspaper on Sunday.

RSS supremo Mohan Bhagwat, significantly, exhorted people to choose ‘Nayak’ or statesman over ‘Neta’ or leader while addressing the youths at the camp late on Saturday.

“RSS has been working in the Lok Sabha constituency since last five years to generate awareness among the people on the lack of development in the area. BJP had cashed in on the woks done by RSS, by snatching Guna seat from Mr Scindia in the last LS polls”, a senior leader of the Sangh told this newspaper on Sunday.

BJP’s K.P. Yadav, a greenhorn, won the seat by defeating Mr Scindia by a margin over one lakh votes in the polls. The Scindia dynast used to be seen in reverence by the people in Guna, once a part of former Gwalior kingdom.  

Mr Scindia was given the charge of west Uttar Pradesh by Congress in the last LS polls leading his wife to take charge of his campaign in Guna in the 2019 parliamentary polls.

He has of late begun focusing on restoring his ground in Guna by making frequent visits to the constituency.

“Mr Bhagwat’s tour to Guna is a routine RSS programme and has nothing to do with politics”, a leader of the Scindia camp said.