HYDERABAD: Minister of State (MoS) for social justice and empowerment and president of Republican Party of India (RPI-A) Ramdas Athawale has announced that his party will contest in the upcoming Telangana Assembly polls in alliance with the BJP. The party which is looking to expand its base beyond Maharashtra is set to contest in 20 Assembly constituencies in the State.
The party has shown interest to contest in 42 constituencies and communicated the same to the BJP, but the latter was not ready to give that many number of seats. “Talks are on with State BJP election committee in-charge JP Nadda on seat sharing. We may settle for 19 or 20 seats as the BJP has not agreed to give 42 seats to us,” Athawale told a press conference here on Saturday. Sensing that the Muslim vote bank is not with the AIMIM alone, Athawale said that they would reach out to the minority communities.
In the city, to primarily discuss the future of the party which is in the process of tracing its roots after it went seatless in the previous elections, Athawale held a meeting with his party cadre to discuss party’s future.
Though the State RPI unit had a strong association with the Congress in the past, it is learnt that due to alliance between the party’s Maharashtra unit and BJP in that state has compelled them to shake hands with BJP in Telangana.
The party is yet to decide on its manifesto but its core motive will be to fight on the issue of unemployment in the State. “The TRS government has not fulfilled its promise of giving jobs to youth and also several other promises to Dalits. The promise of 3-acre land to Dalits is also an unfulfilled promise, Athawale alleged.
He, however, assured that the party will field its candidate for the Deputy Chief Minister post, in the eventuality of BJP and RPI alliance winning the elections. The party said that it is not just confined to the Dalits but also to other caste groups including the Other Backward Castes and the upper castes.