Union Minister Ramdas Athawale said his Republican Party of India (RPI) wanted an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party for the upcoming polls in four states and the Union Territory of Puducherry, as also for the 2022 Uttar Pradesh elections.
Athawale, who was here on Saturday, said he would speak to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for an alliance in the state, and also with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president JP Nadda and Home Minister Amit Shah in due course.
"If the BJP leaves 8-10 seats, the RPI can give a jolt to the BSP," he said talking about Uttar Pradesh. He said the people in the state were getting disenchanted with the Bahujan Samaj party and were shifting towards the RPI.
Regarding alliance in the poll-bound Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry, the RPI president said his party wanted to contest these elections together with the BJP.
However, he said, if the RPI was not given seats by the BJP, it would field its candidates on some seats and extend support to the saffron party on the others.
He pointed out that the Dalits constituted 36 per cent population of West Bengal and the BJP would benefit if the RPI fought the election with it.
Athawale, whose RPI is a BJP ally at the Centre, also praised the works done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
Asked about any political understanding with Bhim Army chief Chandrasekhar Azad, Athawale said Azad is an "independent person, but if he joins my party he will be given an important post".
The Dalit leader extended Azad and BSP president Mayawati invitations to join his party.
"If Mayawati comes, she will be given the post of the president of RPI and I will myself opt for the post of vice-president as this is the party of Babasaheb (Bhimrao Ambedkar)," Athawale said.
When pointed out that the BJP was not inclined to give his party any seat, he said, "As of now, our organisation is not very strong but we are strengthening it at the district level."
He also claimed that the BJP would be getting more than 200 seats in West Bengal. "There is resentment against the government in the state," he said, adding that the NDA would form its government in four states and in Kerala too, it could succeed since the people there intended to hand over power to the BJP.
On the ongoing farmers' agitation against the Centre's three agricultural reforms laws, he said, "Our government is not against farmers but if one law is repealed, there will be pressure to withdraw all laws. The government is ready for amendment in the farm law."
To a question on Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's visit to Varanasi on the occasion of Sant Ravidas Jayanti, Athawale said she could visit whichever temple she wanted but there was no future for the Congress till there was Rahul Gandhi.