Sanjay Joshi still a Pracharak, can be given back post: RSS

New Delhi, Apr 2 (UNI) The RSS today said former BJP General Secretary (Organisation) Sanjay Joshi, who stepped down from his post after a compact disc portraying him in ''bad light'' surfaced, can be given his post back as the forensic science laboratory tests have cleared him.

''Mr Joshi, who stepped down in the highest standards of public probity, was not released from the Pracharak status, but had decided to keep it in abeyance until he was cleared in the matter,'' RSS Sarkaryavah Mohan Bhagwat told UNI over phone from Nagpur.

However, informed sources in the BJP said yesterday that the senior echelons in the party were opposed to Mr Joshi's reinduction while the RSS wanted him back in his old job. The RSS has not provided any replacement for Mr Joshi to fill the post of General Secretary (Organisation), a post traditionally handled by an RSS Pracharak.

Mr Joshi had to quit the post after the CD sufaced during the BJP's silver jubilee plenary at Mumbai.

Insiders say that there is resistance from the dominant section of the BJP against the reinduction as the party does not want any embarassment ahead of the simultaneous yatras to be undertaken by Leader of Opposition L K Advani and Mr Rajnath Singh and the issue may have be arbitrated by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

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