New Delhi, Nov. 19: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the “Dilli 4” are working overtime to dispel the impression that they are at odds with each other on the prospective anointment of Nitin Gadkari as the next BJP chief.

While the Sangh claimed Gadkari was the BJP’s nominee, sources close to the “cabal” of four — Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, M. Venkaiah Naidu and Ananth Kumar — said they would “fully co-operate” with the Maharashtra leader once he took over.

Last night, Manmohan Vaidya, the Sangh’s all-India publicity chief, issued a statement that said: “The decision on the next president is entirely the BJP’s own. If their opinion is sought by the BJP, RSS leaders merely express their opinion; they do not interfere in their (the BJP’s) matters.

“(The) RSS has neither supported nor opposed any name for the office of the president. The interpretation in a section of the media that the RSS is opposed to the four senior BJP leaders being party president is entirely wrong.”

Vaidya said Naidu, Jaitley, Sushma and Kumar were associated with the RSS for a long time.

The RSS and the BJP’s “four” have their own reasons for making up. Under Bhagwat, the Sangh has been critiqued for overplaying its hand as a political super boss to the “parivar”. His predecessors never came out in the front even as they pulled strings on matters like giving election tickets and appointing district functionaries.

It was an open secret in the BJP that Sushma, Naidu and the others did not exactly ensure a pleasant tenure for Rajnath and at times publicly contested his authority.

Stung by reports of how their importance could be reduced in the Gadkari dispensation, Naidu had rushed to the Sangh headquarters in Nagpur early this week and reportedly sought an assurance from Bhagwat that he wouldn’t be “destabilised”. Vaidya’s statement followed their meeting.