'It is like son going to his mother': Naidu on BJP ministers attending RSS meet

Naidu hails RSS as a nationalistic organization; says the BJP is in regular touch with it and other bodies like ABVP

BJP ministers attending RSS meet is like "son going to his mother", a senior minister asserted today, dismissing Congress criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his cabinet colleagues taking part in the deliberations.

"It's like a son going to his mother. How can anybody find fault with a son going to his mother," Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venakiah Naidu said, rejecting Congress charge that "RSS is giving directions to the government and ministers are violating the oath of secrecy by reporting to it".

Taking a swipe at Sonia Gandhi, Naidu said what she did from 10, Janpath, her residence, by deciding on issues of UPA government was extra-constitutional, not the action of BJP ministers.

Naidu hailed the RSS as a nationalistic organization saying the BJP is in regular touch with it and other bodies like ABVP.

Noting that Government has already made it clear that it will go by the national agenda for governance, Naidu wondered what is extra constitutional in interacting with the RSS.

"We meet frequently and exchange ideas. There is nothing extra constitutional in this. The extraconstitutional was 10 Janpath (Congress President Sonia Gandhi's residence) deciding the issues of the 7 RCR (Prime Minister's residence")," Naidu said.

The BJP has frequently accused the Congress President and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi of interfering in the work of UPA I and UPA II governments led by then PM Manmohan Singh.

"The Prime Minister takes a decision and the Congress Vice President asks to tear that order in a press conference. That was indeed extra constitutional," Naidu said.

He was referrring to a press conference in Press Club in 2013 when Rahul Gandhi had suddenly appeared, and in a major embarrassment to the UPA government, denounced the controversial ordinance to negate the Supreme Court verdict on convicted lawmakers as "complete nonsense".

Naidu's remarks on the RSS meet comes a day after the three-day "coordination" meeting of RSS came to an end yesterday, which was attended by the top brass of the government including the Prime Minister.

Though the RSS said it was not reviewing the government's performance, Opposition parties including Congress, Left and other parties launched a blistering attack on the government over the issue.