Ram Madhav, the high profile BJP leader, was on Saturday shunted back to the RSS as a member of the executive working committee.

Madhav was dropped as the BJP general secretary in September last year when new party chief J.P. Nadda announced his team.

He had come to the BJP from the RSS and was rewarded with a key organisational post as one of the general secretaries of the party under Amit Shah.

As the BJP general secretary, Madhav had straddled as a party minder for the northeastern states as well as Jammu & Kashmir. His high profile nature and interventions, however, was learnt to have annoyed the then party boss Amit Shah.

Party insiders said Madhav had spoilt his case further by entering into a factional feud with Himanta Biswa Sharma who had crossed over from the Congress and was regarded as an “asset” by Shah.

Both Madhav and Sarma wanted total control over the Northeast.

Madhav’s return to the RSS reflected the BJP’s firmness to sideline anyone trying to act independently.

Despite his seniority, Madhav was not considered for a Rajya Sabha berth that was given to many junior leaders and new entrants.

“Ram Madhav now has to start afresh and toil in the RSS before he can make it to the BJP again, and nobody knows when his time will come,” a BJP leader said, accusing him of being “too ambitious”.

Now Madhav would be part of the Akhil Bharatiya Karyakarini or the executive working body of the RSS under Hosabale, a Modi loyalist.