Growth of RSS -Sleepless night ahead for Congress leaders

After Naxal spat, Diggy meets PC over RSS in social sector

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/After-Naxal-spat-Diggy-meets-PC-over-RSS-in-social-sector/articleshow/5904099.cms

NEW DELHI: Weeks after his newspaper article slamming home minister P Chidambaram’s approach to Maoist insurgency raised a political storm, Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Friday walked into the HM’s North Block office to unfold a new agenda.

Singh, according to highly placed sources, drew Chidambaram’s attention to the increasing presence of the RSS in the social sector and called for his intervention.

In their first meeting since the Congress general secretary’s open critique of Chidambaram’s Naxalite policy, the two got off to a new list of concerns in a cordial atmosphere without any trace of the past recriminations.

In fact, the issue of Singh’s article in the `Economic Times’ did not come up for any reference.

Singh, party sources said, urged Chidambaram to ponder over the implications of an RSS-affiliated organisation coaching IAS aspirants with an impressive success rate.

In his opinion, this trend needs to be examined by the government given the fact that the character and quality of administration largely depends on the civil servants.

Singh also pointed out that a number of NGOs, apparently backed by the RSS, had received support from the government. The penetration of the saffron outfits into the social sector, he claimed, is a serious matter.

Chidambaram, sources said, shared Singh’s concern over the RSS presence on the social scene and assured him that his ministry would look into the matter.

Interestingly, if the ego clash between the two senior Congress leaders had begun over the question of how the ultra-Left insurgency should be handled, for the reconciliation process they chose the `threat’ from the other end of political spectrum.

While many in the political circles traced the genesis of Singh’s signed article to `bad vibes’ between the two at a meeting over the issue of fast-tracking the cases of some terror suspects in the capital’s Batla House case, Friday’s dialogue took place in a friendly atmosphere, sources said.

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