Mahayuti needs to accommodate Dalits, minorities to win assembly polls, says Ramdas Athawale
Mumbai, Jun 22: Union minister Ramdas Athawale on Saturday advised the ruling ‘Mahayuti’ alliance in Maharashtra to accommodate Dalits and minorities to win the assembly elections.
Talking to reporters here, Athawale said his Republican Party of India (Athawale) would seek eight to ten seats for the state polls due in October. Maharashtra has 288 assembly seats.
The ruling alliance comprises the BJP, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and NCP headed by Ajit Pawar.
“We also want one MLC seat in the biennial elections to the legislative council scheduled next month,” he said.
In the proposed cabinet expansion in the state, RPI (A) should get a ministerial berth, the Dalit leader said.
Athawale said Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had assured him that his demands would be considered. “I hope he seriously considers our demands,” he said.
Athawale, who was retained as a minister of state in the third term of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said he expected a Cabinet berth, but many other allies also needed to be accommodated.
“Being a minister at the Centre for the last eight years, I have been able to expand my party elsewhere in the country,” he said.
Athawale said he wanted his party to contest from Shirdi and Solapur in the Lok Sabha polls but the BJP did not consider their request.
“We (BJP-led NDA) expected 40 seats (in Maharashtra) but got 17 in the Lok Sabha elections,” he said.
He said the opposition's narrative that the BJP would change the Constitution if it got over 400 seats misled Dalit voters, referring to the NDA’s subpar performance in the general elections.
There is not much difference between the vote shares of the opposition bloc Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and Mahayuti, he said.
“Dalits and minorities need to be brought into the fold of Mahayuti to win assembly polls. I will put this point in the meeting of Mahayuti leaders,” he said, stressing that the ruling alliance can win the polls if there is unity.
He said Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar had the backing of most MLAs, hence the Election Commission ruled their groups as real Shiv Sena and NCP, respectively.
Maratha and OBC quotas, which are currently under the spotlight, are important issues, said the RPI (A) head, adding that Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange should be invited to the all-party meeting next week.
He also rued that his efforts for Dalit unity had not succeeded. “If Prakash Ambedkar of Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) agrees, I am ready to work under him,” he said.
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KKR land Green for record-breaking Rs 25.20 crore; Shaw, Sarfaraz go unsold
Abu Dhabi (PTI): Kolkata Knight Riders splurged a record-breaking Rs 25.20 to land top Australian all-rounder Cameron Green even as Indian stars Prithvi Shaw and Sarfaraz Khan went unsold in the Indian Premier League players' auction here on Tuesday.
Green surpassed compatriot Mitchell Starc (Rs 24.75 crore) to become the most expensive overseas player at an IPL auction. This was after Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings were involved in an intense bidding war for him before the latter emerged winner.
KKR also went after Venkatesh Iyer before pulling out of the race against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, who fetched the services of the India all-rounder for Rs 7 crore.
As far as Green is concerned, his salary for the season would still be Rs 18 crore (USD 1.9 million) as the rest of the amount will go towards the BCCI's player development programme as per the rules of the auction for foreign players.
Green, who previously turned up for Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bengaluru, has so far played 29 matches in the IPL to aggregate 707 runs and take 16 wickets.
Shaw, however, went unsold despite his fine run of form in the domestic circuit lately, and so was the case with Sarfaraz, who smashed a 22-ball 73 in a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy match for Mumbai on Tuesday.
Big-hitting South African batter David Miller was bought by Delhi Capitals for his base price of Rs 2 crore, but New Zealand swashbuckler Devon Conway, whose base price was also Rs 2 crore, went unsold in the auction.
Seasoned South African opener Quinton de Kock returned to his old base Mumbai Indians for a base price of Rs 1 crore.
A total of 359 players -- 246 Indians and 113 overseas players -- are part of the mini auction pool with the 10 franchises bidding to fill up a maximum of 77 slots, including 31 reserved for foreign players.
