Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party hesitated to reinstate its former general secretary Sanjay Joshi, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on Sunday sought to put pressure on the saffron party by announcing his reinstatement as a pracharak (organiser).
Last December, a compact disc that showed Sanjay Joshi in poor light had surfaced, following which he resigned from both the BJP and RSS positions he was holding.
On Thursday, the Madhya Pradesh police gave him a clean chit.
In a brief statement issued from RSS headquarters in Nagpur, RSS general secretary Mohan Bhagwat said Joshi has been a pracharak but was relieved of the same following his resolve not to take up any responsibility till proved innocent.
With the Madhya Pradesh police's view of the forensic laboratory's report on the CD "proving his involvement in the so-called vulgar CD controversy as wrong and untrue, he is now again part of the pracharak system," the statement said.
Bhagwat's statement assumes significance as BJP leaders, including party president Rajnath Singh, while welcoming Joshi's reported exoneration, have not hinted at his return as general secretary.
According to BJP sources, a section of the party, led by former party president Lal Kishenchand Advani, were reportedly not in favour of Joshi's re-instatement.
VHP firebrand General Secretary Praveen Togadia, while holding certain party leaders in Delhi and Gujarat as responsible for the CD controversy, had demanded Joshi's immediate re-instatement.
Joshi, who was the RSS' point man in the BJP, had resigned in the midst of BJP national executive meeting in Mumbai.
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