Sanjay Tandon: There is no coordination between RSS teams

Chandigarh: Though the RSS is active at the grassroots level, the lack or absence of coordination between Sanjay Tandon and the BJP’s ideological guru has affected his chances of victory, sources said. Though the RSS held “drawing room meetings” in the city, the synergy between the Sangh and the party unit at the grassroots level was missing. No general meetings were held to strengthen preparations, planning and teamwork during the campaign, sources said. Speaking to the Chandigarh Tribune, RSS sources said one of the other factors was that many of the works of RSS workers in the last 10 years did not get done. They were disappointed and not enthusiastic about working on their part this time. The party’s ideological guru held over 1,750 “drawing room meetings”.

The RSS had adopted this model of establishing contact with voters, which worked in the Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh assembly elections. Under this model, unlike the major group meetings, 10 houses were chosen at a time and meetings were held in parks or at a single residence with 15-20 members. They were encouraged to vote for “national interest”. Moreover, the organisation’s foot soldiers were active on the ground. However, these things did not prove fruitful enough due to poor coordination with Tandon. Tandon is the son of senior Punjab RSS leader Balramji Das Tandon, who also served as Chhattisgarh governor. RSS chief in Chandigarh Deepak Batra did not respond to Chandigarh Tribune’s phone calls and messages.