Nagpur: Narendra Modi is headed to Nagpur where he is expected to be handed a list of Dos and Don'ts by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS this evening.
Important among these is that he must take along other top leaders of the BJP, like LK Advani who had opposed his recent promotion, as he steers the party's election campaign. Mr Modi is reputed to play lone ranger as seen in Gujarat, where even RSS functionaries are said to have been upset at being sidelined by him.
At the two-hour dinner meeting with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, Mr Modi is also likely to discuss how to balance an "unapologetic" Hindutva agenda with the promise of development and good governance.
The RSS, which is the BJP's ideological mentor, decided earlier this year that Hindutva issues like the Ram temple at Ayodhya must reflect in the BJP's campaign for the general elections in 2014. Within weeks of being elevated as the BJP's election campaign chief, Mr Modi has made several controversial statements that would seem in line with that RSS mandate.
But senior leaders in the BJP have cautioned that this must not deflect attention from core issues like corruption, a flagging economy and the scandals that have rocked the Congress-led UPA government, which it hopes to dislodge next year.
Sources say the RSS wants the party to keep attacking the UPA government and especially corner Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the alleged coal block allocation scam.
Mr Modi, a former RSS pracharak, is also expected to discuss with Mr Bhagwat how to counter the negative impact from the chargesheet filed in the Ishrat Jehan case by the CBI, which has accused eight cops in his adminstration of murder.
Ten days ago Mr Bhagwat had met senior BJP leaders like Murli Manohar Joshi and Mr Advani and then party president Rajnath Singh, who was reportedly advised that the veterans must be kept be given due respect and play an important part in election activities, even as it was made clear that there must be no hurdles in the way of Mr Modi as he takes centrestage in the run-up to 2014.