RSS Unhappy With BJP's 'Handling' Of Kirti Azad Row, Say Sources

New Delhi: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS, BJP's ideological mentor, is not happy with the party's handling of the Kirti Azad affairs.

A senior RSS leader told NDTV, "We were not consulted on the issue which was not at all political. And it seems the party acted in haste succumbing to pressure from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)."

Mr Azad, a former cricketer and three time Parliamentarian, was suspended by the BJP on Wednesday after he accused Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley of presiding over corruption in the DDCA or Delhi and District Cricket Association when he headed it in the past.

The RSS feels the allegations of corruption in the Delhi cricket body had nothing to do with the government and the battle should have been fought differently as Kirti Azad's charges against the DDCA are not new and over the last several years the BJP brass did little to sort it out.
 "It's surprising why an issue between two BJP leaders was not sorted out by BJP presidents over the last eight years," said the leader who declined to be named.

"It's only the AAP pressure which changed things. That's why it needed a more nuanced counter," he said.

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The RSS leadership also feels that the party leadership failed to "handle" Kirti Azad. According to sources, the RSS believes that by suspending Kirti Azad in haste, the crisis has been allowed to deepen.

The RSS is not happy with the insinuations against Mr Jaitley by Kirti Azad which has helped the opposition target the Finance Minister and by association, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP, sources say.

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"That's not how a MP (Member of Parliament) should conduct himself but such things happen if the party brass ignores pending issues," the RSS leader said.