PUNE, 17 March 2005 — As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is scheduled to make his two-day maiden visit to the city beginning Saturday, Congress activists are questioning the wisdom of the Congress premier attending functions of organizations associated with the Hindu militant Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), and not a single Congress party function.
The prime minister will attend the diamond jubilee functions of Brihan Maharashtra College of Commerce (BMCC) and Cosmos Bank besides visiting the Chital dairy plant at Bhilwadi in Sangli district.
All these functions are questionable as he being the Congress party prime minister, he should have not accepted the request to attend the functions of the RSS-associated organizations in the first place, said a Congress leader. He said that Deccan Education Society is running the BMCC, which is part of the Sangh Pariwar (RSS family). The Chital family is known to be RSS sympathizers, while though the Cosmos Bank is not directly associated with the RSS, several of its shareholder and directors are known for their RSS links.
With the Pune unit of the Congress in a shambles, party workers are trying to organize a meeting of the premier with Congress workers.
