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Rashtriya Swayam Sevak (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat has advised BJP campaign committee chairman Narendra Modi to fully involve all senior leaders of the latter’s party in the run-up to the 2014
general elections. The advice was followed at the central parliamentary board (CPB) meeting on Thursday, where it was decided to form committees based on functions and not on geographical
zones. The BJP will make a formal announcement about the various committees on Friday. It is learnt that there will be as many as 15 committees, including one to prepare the manifesto and
campaign literature, and one to deal with travel arrangements. The RSS wants the BJP to present a united front in the run-up to the elections. Bhagawat apparently did not want the campaign
committee to be a one-man show led by Modi, so he asked the Gujarat chief minister to take along all the senior BJP leaders with him. The committees will therefore involve all senior leaders
as well as general secretaries. While the RSS fully supports Modi as the party’s face for the 2014 elections, and even sees him as a potential PM candidate, it wants to guide him along the
way and wants him work in cooperation with the other senior leaders. This, they feel, will ease Modi into the party’s leadership position. This is the first time in recent years that the RSS
is engaging so actively in the BJP’s functioning. Since RSS wants to see BJP win the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, it wants to do all that it can to ensure the party’s smooth functioning. On
Thursday, the CPB also discussed the agenda for the parliament’s monsoon session, which will commence in the first week of August. The BJP plans to bring up the economy’s dismal state, the
recent changes in FDI limits and security issues, especially the battle between the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) with regard to Ishrat Jahan fake
encounter.