It has been a rough year for the BJP. After facing big political losses and infighting within the party, now the RSS is also telling it how to set its house in order.

While the BJP says that the RSS has no hold over its day-to-day functioning and will not have a say in selecting the next party president, what is now becoming clear is that the RSS is in fact playing big brother.

Party chief Mohan Bhagwat told journalists in Pune, "We have told them (BJP) to restore and tighten the party's organizational system and structure and choose a young president having leadership mindset."

Bhagwat had said a few days ago that BJP's central leaders Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, M Venkaiah Naidu and Ananth Kumar have been passed over for the post of the BJP president.

Maharashtra BJP chief Nitin Gadkari Gadkari's candidature as the Sangh's choice has been doing the rounds since September.

But the L K Advani faction is opposing a leader who will closely align with the Sangh.