Demanding family

And strengthening their voice were senior BJP leaders. State president Lalit Kishore Chaturvedi took up cudgels on behalf of Togadia saying the government should withdraw cases against him. Social Welfare minister Madan Dilawar echoed his view in the opening session of the assembly.

But it hasn’t just been about Togadia. Raje’s 100 days in office have been a fine balancing act between her vision and the Sangh’s demands. From changes in the transfer list of bureaucrats to suggestions on withdrawing the scheduled tribe rights of people who have converted, the party and the Sangh have been relentless in its demands.

The Raje government has courted controversy right from the beginning when senior ministers attended a RSS camp in Kota days after they were sworn in. Like good followers, they latched on to every word of RSS chief K. Sudershan, who told them about how to effectively govern.

Fresh from the camp classroom, the government found itself all caught up with bureaucratic transfers. They started the reshuffle and suddenly stopped it in the face of huge opposition from within the party and the Sangh.

As the murmurs of dissent grew louder, all transfers were put on hold and an eight-member committee was set-up at the BJP office. Comprising of BJP and RSS leaders, with a few ministers representing the government, the committee mulled over names for three days and drew up a list of nearly 2,000 state employees and officials. Their demand was that these officials should be transferred to places of their choice and it was met.

‘‘Actually it wasn’t really the Sangh,’’ defends Bhanwar Lal Sharma, former BJP minister and sampark sah pramukh of the RSS. ‘‘Our cadres were unhappy. BJP workers felt that the transfers were unfair and they opposed it. We just coordinated with the party.’’ The BJP government learnt quickly. It had to do all the ‘wonderful things’ it had planned as part of its 100-day programme and simultaneously ensure that the parivar was happy.

So Raje started making frequent visits to Bharti Bhavan, the RSS headquarters in Jaipur. Her ministers also made their presence felt at all RSS camps and extra effort was made to bond with the Sangh family.

For smoother coordination, RSS man Prakash Chand moved his stuff into the BJP party office. As general secretary, his brief is to keep the peace between the party, Sangh and the government. His added qualification—he is from Raje’s Jhalawar constituency.

His job just became easier thanks to the Election Commission of India. With Lok Sabha polls being announced, the Sangh has declared a truce. They have decided to back the government to the hilt and put aside all their differences.

Besides giving a general thumbs-up to the government’s 100 days in power, the Sangh has also decided to marshal its troops and ensure a BJP victory. ‘‘We realise that only when the BJP comes to power with a good majority will our work get done,’’ says a candid RSS worker. So for the time being, differences have been set aside and a ‘‘healthy fight’’ is on to decide the candidates for the upcoming elections.