The BJP’s top leadership has launched efforts to mend fences with the RSS in the wake of the party’s underwhelming performance in the Lok Sabha polls.

The RSS is keen to ensure that a person of its choice becomes the next BJP boss and Narendra Modi and Amit Shah appear eager not to annoy the parent outfit, sources said.

Sources said the option of electing a woman and an OBC leader as the BJP chief and the possible names to fit into the category were discussed at a “coordination meeting” of the BJP and the RSS on Monday evening.

The BJP has never had a woman party boss and insiders said Prime Minister Modi was keen to have one to further his political agenda following the passage of the women’s reservation bill.

The five-hour meeting, held at the residence of defence minister Rajnath Singh, was attended by home minister Shah, BJP chief J.P. Nadda and general secretary (organisation) B.L. Santosh. The RSS was represented by general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale and joint general secretary Arun Kumar.

The discussions, insiders said, focused on the election of the next BJP president, the upcoming Assembly polls in Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir and the turmoil in Bangladesh with an emphasis on the safety of Hindus.

The meeting follows the apparent discord between the BJP and its ideological parent that became evident just after the poll results. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had publicly disapproved of the “ahankar” (arrogance) of the “sevak” and the bitter election campaign threatening social harmony. Bhagwat was seen to be targetting Modi, who prefers to call himself “Pradhan Sevak” and not “Pradhan Mantri”.

RSS insiders said the marathon meeting indicated that the BJP’s top leadership had realised that sidelining the RSS from key decision-making, particularly during the national elections, had cost the party dearly.

Privately, RSS leaders had accused the BJP of “unilaterally” finalising the names of candidates, many of them quite unpopular among the voters and the RSS cadres.

“We are part of the same family, the Sangh parivar, and differences in a family are very normal,” an RSS leader said. “But now we have decided to ensure better coordination to minimise the scope of differences,” the leader added.

The main topic of discussion at Monday’s meeting was the possible candidates for the next BJP president. Nadda’s extended term had expired in June and the delay in selecting his replacement is widely attributed to differences between the two sides.

Though both sides were tight-lipped about the probable names, BJP leaders said a final decision would be taken at the larger meeting at the end of this month during a key RSS brainstorming session in Kerala.

The upcoming Assembly polls also figured prominently in the discussions, with the BJP leadership eager to secure the full backing of the RSS given the political significance of the poll-bound states.

Of the three states, the BJP rules Haryana directly and Maharashtra indirectly. Going by the results of the Lok Sabha polls, it would be an uphill task for the BJP to retain Maharashtra and Haryana and win back Jharkhand from the INDIA bloc.

The RSS has a strong presence in both Maharashtra (the RSS has its headquarters in Nagpur) and Haryana and the synergy of its ground cadres could give the much needed push to Modi’s effort to improve his political standing.