Denied cabinet berth, RPI threatens to pull out of 'Mahayuti'

Mumbai, Nov 13: Accusing the BJP of not fulfilling its promise of giving a ministerial berth to RPI in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Cabinet, its chief Ramdas Athawale on Thursday asked the saffron party to get its act right, or risk the breakdown of 'Mahayuti'.

"The BJP seems to have forgot the role of its smaller allies in its massive win. If they have indeed forgotten our importance, let me remind them there are four important municipal elections due in the near future.

"In the coming year, there will be Kalyan-Dombivali and Navi Mumbai municipal elections and there will be the Thane and Brihanmumbai municipal elections in 2017. If the BJP still refuses to acknowledge our importance and give us our due, we may be compelled to ally with others for these elections," Athawale told reporters here.

He added that discussions were held between Shiv Sangram Party President Vinayak Mete, Mahadev Jankar of Rashtriya Samaj Paksha and Raju Shetti of Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghtana who have all expressed displeasure over the "callous" attitude of BJP towards its allies.

"If we would have allied with the Sena in the Assembly polls, BJP would have lost at least 20-25 seats that would have been gained by the Sena," he said. When asked to comment on the Devendra Fadnavis led government winning the vote of confidence through a voice vote, Athawale said it was "unconstitutional" and unprecedented in the history of Maharashtra politics.

"The Speaker must have stepped in to ensure that rules were followed. Something that is unconstitutional cannot be accepted," he said. Athawale added he will be adopting Umroli village of Palghar district under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana'. "We have demanded the state government to provide us the Indu Mills land so that we can construct a memorial of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar.

If by the 5th of December, we are not provided with the land, we will storm the Indu Mills complex and forcibly start work on the premises," Athawale warned.

(PTI)