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Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi
Top Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leaders, including its sarsanghchalak K S Sudershan, are scheduled to meet Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Thursday.
The meeting assumes significance in the wake of the recent criticism of the prime minister and his advisors by the RSS and its affiliated bodies, including the influential Vishwa Hindu Parishad.
While the main complaints have been about accessibility, RSS leaders feel that the Vajpayee government, under the influence of a handful of advisors, has distanced itself from the agenda of the Sangh Parivar, of which the main ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is a part.
National Security Advisor Brajesh Mishra, a close confidante of Vajapyee, has been accused of misleading the prime minister.
The other grouse of the RSS is the BJP's increasing distance from the Hindutva agenda, which it rode to power.
"This (the RSS perception pertaining to the BJP's wayward ways) is going to be main issue to be discussed in Thursday's meeting," a senior official in the prime minister's office said.
A senior BJP functionary said the government's liberal business policies, including its commitment to the divestment process, would also be discussed.
The prickly Ayodhya issue may also come up for discussion.
Both the RSS and the VHP have gone on record saying that they could not await indefinitely for the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
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