Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment and Republican Party of India leader, Ramdas Athawale on Friday said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has excluded his party from its alliance with the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra and the decision makes him upset but the party will remain in NDA.
Addressing a press meet here on Friday Athawale said that this time again he wants Narendra Modi to become Prime Minister of India because people have faith on him. “If they want to form government in the Centre once again then they should rethink on their decision because RPI have 12 to 15 per cent votes in each parliamentary seat in Maharashtra. It is quite shocking that the Shiv Sena BJP alliance has left us out, leaving us not a single seat. We are upset about it. They must keep in mind that I can’t win elections on my own but can surely defeat their candidates. We respect the Sena-BJP alliance but they too must take us into confidence. Not giving us a single seat is an insult and injustice on the RPI,” he added.
While threatening the alliance Athawale said, “If we do not get even one seat, votes of Dalits in Maharashtra for BJP-Shiv Sena will be affected.” The minister said he will meet Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray to discuss his concerns.
“I had demanded Mumbai South-Central (Lok Sabha) seat, but they refused to give any seat,” he said. The seat is currently represented by the Shiv Sena’s Rahul Shewale.
Athawale’s party is part of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the Centre and he is a member of the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra. He refused to join Congress led United Progressive Alliance and said the Grand alliance was formed with the objective to malign image of Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.
“Rahul Gandhi is always dreaming about Rafale even after CAG and Supreme Court gave clean chit on the issue,” he added. Athawale said he visited the State Capital to participate in programme to discuss on environmental issues and at the same time he unveiled a book.
