New Delhi, June 25: Rajnath Singh today delivered a moral sermon to his BJP colleagues, asking them to avoid falling prey to their egos and to shun indiscipline and controversy.

The party must be protected from “ego, being self-centric, indisciplined and all those factors because of which (those in) politics (are) losing respect in society”, the BJP president told the party national executive as it began its two-day session.

“We have to be conscious of self-discipline. At our individual level, we need to adhere to established ideals and maintain dignity. We have to sacrifice our personal egos. It is imperative that we should be willing to bear personal displeasure in the larger interest of the organisation.”

Party members must not fight their personal battles through the media, he warned.

“We will always need the required exposure in the media, but we would certainly not like our party, leaders and workers to become victims of unnecessary controversy. The problems of the public can be solved only with sensitivity and effort and not through propaganda. We need not become instruments of the competitive struggle of the media,” Rajnath said.

Executive member Sanjay Joshi was not at hand to hear the advice to avoid controversy. Joshi had hogged the media spotlight during an earlier national executive when a CD that allegedly showed him having sex was circulated covertly.

Although it was never established if the man in the disc was indeed Joshi, the RSS, scandalised at the charge against a pracharak sworn to celibacy, washed its hands of him.

Another absentee was general secretary Arun Jaitley, unable yet to come to terms with the loss of the media spokesperson’s post. He is vacationing abroad.

Rajnath invoked his predecessor, L.K. Advani, to drive his point about discipline home.

“I can clearly recall that Advaniji used to often say that no party has the capability of defeating the BJP. If we are defeated it is only because of our own shortcomings. We have to appreciate the agony behind Advaniji’s statement. His agony not only symbolises our own organisational view but reflects the feelings of millions of our committed workers.”