Lucknow, March 11 -- Chief minister Yogi Adityanath's presence at all six back-to-back regional coordination committee meetings of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) across Uttar Pradesh in the last two weeks has drawn attention in political circles ahead of the 2027 assembly elections in the state. The meetings were held region-wise in Varanasi, Lucknow, Kanpur, Agra, Gorakhpur and Ghaziabad, bringing together RSS functionaries and representatives from the Sangh's affiliate organisations. While Adityanath represented the government as CM, BJP state president Pankaj Chaudhary and general secretary (Organisation) Dharampal represented the party in the state in all six meetings. RSS sources said that Yogi Adityanath volunteered to personally participate in all the meetings as part of the organisation's routine interaction mechanism. "These meetings were already planned and are held every three to six months. The only difference this time is that the chief minister showed his willingness to personally participate in all our meetings and we welcomed the initiative," a senior RSS functionary said. Adityanath's participation in the entire series of meetings has, nevertheless, drawn attention in political circles as it comes against the backdrop of the BJP's underperformance in Uttar Pradesh in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in which the party won only 33 of the 80 seats while the Samajwadi Party (SP) secured 37 seats. In internal reviews following the Lok Sabha polls, several leaders in the wider Sangh Parivar acknowledged that sections of grassroots workers expressed dissatisfaction, with some feeling that the government and the administrative machinery had become less accessible to them over time. Party insiders had also informally pointed to a degree of indifference among some RSS as well as the party cadres during the election campaign, which, they said, needed to be addressed well before the next election. RSS leaders, however, insisted that the regional meetings themselves were not linked to electoral preparations. Political observers view Yogi Adityanath's personal participation in the coordination meetings as an attempt to iron out any differences and reassure the RSS and the BJP's grassroots workers about their continued importance in the run-up to the 2027 assembly elections. "These coordination meetings attended by Yogi Adityanath himself are an effort to strengthen communication between the government and the organisational network at the ground level and ensure greater synergy well before the 2027 battle in the state," said Brajesh Shukla, a political observer. Kripashankar, the RSS communication head for Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, said discussions in the meetings did not include the 2027 assembly elections in UP. "Elections were not part of the agenda. The meetings focused on programmes being organised as part of the RSS centenary celebrations," he said. According to him, the centenary year programmes began with Vijay Dashmi in 2025 and involve a series of outreach initiatives planned across the country. Seven major programmes have been identified as part of the centenary activities. These include the Vijay Dashmi Utsav, which has already been completed, public contact drives and public seminars that are currently underway, as well as Hindu conferences, social harmony events and expansion of holding of Shakhas. As part of the outreach effort, the RSS plans to organise shakhas for seven days at all Nyaya Panchayats in rural areas and in urban localities with populations of around 10,000. "Alongside these initiatives, the organisation is also promoting the concept of 'Panch Parivartan', or five areas of change, which focus on youth engagement, environmental awareness, social harmony, citizen duties and the promotion of swadeshi," Kripashankar said. While the RSS maintains that it has no role in electoral politics, observers note that its organisational activities often have a wider political impact because of the close ideological and organisational links between the Sangh and the BJP. According to political observers, programmes such as Hindu conferences, public contact drives, youth seminars and the expansion of shakhas, even when organised as part of the centenary celebrations, inevitably energise the broader Sangh network at the grassroots. "Events, such as Hindu conferences, shakhas, public contact drives and youth seminars, directly mobilise volunteers and expand the organisational network. In effect, they help create an atmosphere that strengthens the BJP's ground presence," Shukla said....