Republican Party of India (Athawale) president and Union minister Ramdas Athawale has appealed to Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati to reconsider her decision to join the mahagathbandan and ally with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance.
“Mayawati became the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh three times with the support of BJP. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is pursuing an inclusive political agenda ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ and there is no justification for Mayawati to go to the opposition camp,” the RPI leader said, addressing a press conference here on Friday.
Athawale said, “Mayawati should rethink about joining the mahagathbandan and she should go with the NDA.”
He claimed that the RPI had made significant inroads into the Dalit vote bank in UP.
Explaining the reason for the defeat of BJP in three Lok Sabha bypolls in UP, Athawale said the ruling party did not take the bypolls seriously and the Prime Minister also did not campaign for it.
Claiming that the RPI was ready to contest the Lok Sabha polls in UP in alliance with BJP, he said the party wanted to contest on 3-4 seats.
‘’We will talk to BJP president Amit Shah and may reach an agreement, as we can dent the BSP vote bank,” he said, while also making it clear that the RPI would do nothing to affect the prospects of the ruling party in the state.
He claimed that some important leaders of the BSP were in touch with him, he said the BJP would benefit in the state with the coming together of the RPI.
The RPI leader claimed that Narendra Modi would be the Prime Minister for the second term and the tally of the BJP in 2019 Lok Sabha elections will be around 300 against the 282 seats it won in 2014.