Leader of the Republican Party of India (RPI), Ramdas Athawale, wants a status equivalent to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the mega alliance of Shiv Sena-BJP-RPI formed to kick off the Congress led Democratic Front (DF) government in Maharashtra. Mr Athawale has demanded seats equal to BJP in the coming elections.
Following separation with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Mr Athawale and his party joined the saffron alliance in 2011. He was said to be unhappy with NCP chief Sharad Pawar for not
keeping his commitments.
In a statement shocking both Shiv Sena-BJP leaders, Mr Athawale said, “We are hopeful that this time in elections there would be a change in government. Therefore, I proposed that a Shiv sainak should be made the chief minister and there should be two deputy chief ministers, one from the BJP and the other from the RPI, as we want equivalent status as that of that BJP.”
The RPI leader, who had spoken to the reporters at Dehu Road in Pune, is currently busy with the election preparations and holding public meetings across the state. The state Assembly has a total of 288 seats out of which the BJP has contested 119 seats in the 2009 Assembly elections.
This is not the first time when Mr Athawale has made such demands publicly in order to build up pressure on its alliance partners. Last month too, the RPI leader had openly demanded 35 seats for the Assembly elections and four Lok Sabha seats out of the total 48 seats. “We have taken the risk of joining the Shiv Sena-BJP combine on the insistence of Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray,” Mr Athawale had said.
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5 dead, 1 hurt in road mishap
JAYPRAKASH S. NAIDU
Mumbai, may 26
Five members from a well-to-do family in Navi Mumbai were killed and a six-year-old girl, who was with them, was grievously injured, after their speeding Maruti Swift car went out of control and rammed into a wall along the road on the old Mumbai-Goa highway on Sunday evening.
The deceased are all residents of Kharghar in Navi Mumbai and were returning home after visiting the Ekvira Aai temple near Karla caves in Lonavala.
The accident took place in Karla village at around 4.45 pm. They have been identified as Rupesh J. Vaskar (26), who was driving the car, his father Janardhan Changa (65), his brother Ravindra (30), his mother Lilabai (60) and cousin Suvarna (30).
“The driver was speeding. No other vehicle is involved in the accident. The car went out of control and hit the wall of Residency hotel,” said police inspector Vishnu S. Pawar.