Monday, April 11 2005 19:37 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today (Apr 11, 2005) launched a damage-control exercise in the backdrop of carping comments of K S Sudarshan, chief of the Sangh Parivar fount head, whose attack on former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee brought fresh embarrassment to the main Opposition party.

In the remarks, played on NDTV today, Sudarshan had said that Vajpayee had not done enough for Ram Temple construction in Ayodhya. He was also critical of his principal secretary Brajesh Mishra and the "interference" of his foster son-in-law Ranjan Bhattacharya in the functioning of the Government and the party.

A day after Sudarshan's interview to NDTV demanding that senior leaders Vajpayee and L K Advani make way for younger leaders to take over the party, the RSS stepped in to say that Advani should continue as the BJP president.

"The RSS has always held the leadership of Vajpayee and Advani in high esteem and maintained that the party needs their guidance and leadership always," RSS spokesman Ram Madhav said in New Delhi, quoting a statement of Sangh general secretary Mohan Bhagwat.

The RSS statement praised Advani for his "yeoman contribution" to BJP as its president and otherwise also and "in the last few months the party is trying to reorganise itself well under his leadership."

Bhagwat said that Sudarshan has made it clear to him that his "very general" observations in a television interview regarding age factor in politics "were taken out of context to create such an erroneous impression" that Advani and Vajpayee should quit their posts.

"Now this issue may be deemed close once and for all," Madhav said.