Chennai: Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Shankersingh Vaghela was no more a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) man and his path of 'hindutva' is different from that of the BJP, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Oscar Fernandes said on September 18.

He told reporters that once Vaghela joined the Congress, he had accepted the policies and principles of the party. He was no more a RSS man.

He denied that the Congress high command was soft pedalling Vaghela's 'hindutva' policies. Vaghela's Hindutva was different from that of the BJP. He wanted to take Hindus, Muslims and persons of all religions along with him and there was a basic difference between the Hindutva preached by BJP and Vaghela, Fernandes said.

Fernandes along with the Congress secretaries Ramesh Chennithala and Naresh Rawal met the leaders of the Congress in Tamil Nadu and heard them individually on the steps to be taken for strengthening the party at grass root level.

Asked why the Congress high command had not replied to All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) chief Jayalalithaa's tirade against Sonia Gandhi, he said, "it is not worth replying. Jayalalithaa should undergo self introspection as to why she had made the charges", he said.

Chennithala said they would be submitting a report to the Congress president Sonia Gandhi on September 23 on revamping the "party from the top to bottom" and she would decide about appointing a new president for the party in the state and other office bearers.

The revamping was "inevitable" as the TMC had merged with the Congress last month, he said.

PTI