New Delhi: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on Friday said it was in favour of giving a long rope to the newly installed coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir to improve governance.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coalition government, which was formed after two months of intense negotiation between the two ideologically opposed parties, took charge of office on March 1.

The coalition, however, was in trouble from the day one, with chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed testing BJP’s patience with his controversial statements and actions.

Referring to the recent decision of the state government to order the release of detained separatist leader Masarat Alam much to the embarrassment of the BJP, senior RSS leader Dattatreya Hosabale termed the rocky ties as teething problems.

“The country is angry [at Alam’s release]. We don’t think what is happening in Jammu and Kashmir is right, but we should not conclude that the government has failed ... We are seeing teething problems from day one, but the attempt is to bring in a change, a chance must be given,” Hosabale said while addressing media at the RSS central office situated in Maharashtra’s Nagpur city.

RSS’s decision to give the state government time to settle down has come as a big sigh of relief to the BJP, which has been facing criticism for joining hands with PDP with critics terming BJP as power hungry.

Amit Shah, who was hand-picked by RSS to become the BJP president in July 2013 ahead of last year’s general elections, is already in Nagpur to attend the three-day brainstorming session of RSS starting Saturday.

Hosabale, who has an outside chance of being elected as the RSS general-secretary during the three-day conclave in place of incumbent ‘Bhaiyyaji’ Joshi, took care that the BJP-PDP coalition is not seen as an ideological sell-out, reiterated that there is no change in RSS’ stand on Article 370 that gives Jammu and Kashmir status of an autonomous state within the Union of India.

“RSS’ stand on Article 370 has not changed, we will never compromise on it,” Hosabale said. The common minimum programme worked out between the two parties that would guide the state government during its entire six-year tenure in the office is categorical that the state’s constitutional status would be maintained.

Both RSS and BJP have long been demanding abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution and the common minimum programme was negotiated with the PDP by Ram Madhav, the erstwhile RSS spokesman who was transferred to the BJP recently and appointed as the party’s general-secretary.

Despite denials by the two organisations, BJP is generally seen as political organ of the pro-Hindu organisation RSS.