RPI slashes seat demand in Maharashtra polls from 47 to 20

Mumbai : Virtually conceding its shrinking bargaining power, the Republican Party of India-A Tuesday drastically reduced its demand for seats for the ensuing Maharashtra assembly elections from 47 to 20.

RPI-A chief Ramdas Athawale said though his party had demanded 47 seats, now it was ready to settle for just 20, including 13 in the Vidarbha region of eastern Maharashtra.


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“We want that even the other alliance partners (barring Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party) should also reduce their quota demands and ensure that we contest the elections unitedly,” he urged.

The saffron ‘Grand Alliance’ is expected to finalise its seat-sharing formula by early August and the RPI-A was prepared to discuss the allocations as per regions or districts, he added.

Athawale, a Rajya Sabha MP, expressed confidence that in view of the thumping victory of the BJP-Shiv Sena in the last Lok Sabha in Maharashtra, they would also romp to power in the assembly elections.

He added that the RPI-A would demand the post of one state governor or a lt. governor from the Narendra Modi-led central government.

As far as power sharing in the state was concerned, the RPI-A is angling for 15 percent representation in the state cabinet, four legislative council members, and chairmanship of various state-run corporations, he added.

Incidentally, despite intense lobbying, the RPI-A failed to get a cabinet berth in the Modi government while the Shiv Sena managed to get only one.

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