Amit Shah attends RSS convention in Madhya Pradesh, submits report card to Bhagwat

BJP chief Amit Shah Saturday met RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and attended the meeting of its Akhil Bharatiya Praitinidhi Sabha. The Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha is the RSS's highest decision-making body and its three-day meet, involving over 1,400 members, started here on Friday.

Sources said Shah, in view of the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls, "submitted" a report card of the the BJP to the RSS, considered as the former's ideological mentor. This, however, was denied by Dattatreya Hosabale, RSS joint general secretary, who claimed the BJP chief routinely attends the organisation's annual meeting.

"It has nothing to do with the general elections," he said, though he added that the RSS's massive volunteer network does work to increase the BJP's vote share. He also denied that the Pratinidhi Sabha meeting discussed the work of the BJP-led government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Centre, or for that matter "any government's" performance.

Queried on the February 26 IAF air strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammad terror camp in Balakot in Pakistan and some parties here demanding proof of its efficacy, Hosabale said it was "natural" for the patriotism of such proof-seekers to be questioned. "The people of the country and of the world are not seeking any proof of the air strike. The patriotism of those seeking proof is being questioned," he said.

(With inputs from agencies.)