The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh will not participate in the Maharashtra Assembly election campaign, leaving the BJP to conduct the canvassing on its own.

In the Lok Sabha election, however, the RSS had campaigned for the party.

“The RSS doesn’t participate in every election. The 2014 Lok Sabha election was different. In his 2013 Vijayadasami speech, the RSS chief appealed to the people to come out and vote. The results are there for you to see,” said Sudhir Pathak, former Editor of Tarun Bharat (a newspaper considered close to the RSS) and Vidarbha head of the Vishva Samvad Kendra.

Asked about the reason for the RSS’s decision, Virag Pachpore, former RSS Pracharak and in charge of its minority wing, Muslim Rashtriya Manch, said it was time the BJP Maharashtra unit had its “own, strong organisational structure.”

Mr. Pachpore thinks the BJP has not groomed its leaders for the big responsibility.