Bengaluru: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Sah-Sarakaryavah (Joint General Secretary), Dattatreya Hosabale, was on Saturday elected as Sarkaryavah (General Secretary) of the organisation, replacing Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi who held the position for 12 years.
Joshi is the current Sarkaryavah of the RSS and this is fourth term in office, with each term having three years.
Hosabale has been Sah-Sarakaryavah since 2009.
The decision was taken at Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's highest decision-making body Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha (ABPS) in Bengaluru. The ABPS's meeting is being held on March 19 and 20 to review the functioning of the Sangh, discuss expanding its work in the country and to elect its Sarkaryavah (general secretary).
Though ABPS is an annual meet held at different places, but every third year it is held at RSS headquarters in Nagpur as election of Sarkaryawah will take place.
However, it was shifted to Bengaluru this time in the wake of surging COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra.
The Sarkaryavah of the RSS is the second in command after Sarsanghchalak (chief) and manages day-to-day affairs of the organisation.
Born in Karnataka's Shivamogga, Hosabale, 65, is a post-graduate in English literature. He has grown in Sangh which he joined in 1968. He was initially associated with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), student wing of the RSS, and became an organiser in RSS later in his career.
(With PTI inputs)
