While senior Shiv Sena leader and former Lok Sabha speaker Manohar Joshi is miffed at being denied to contest from the Mumbai south central constituency, former MP Ramdas Athavale, who leads the Republican Party of India (Athavale), has thrown his hat into the ring, staking his party’s claim to the seat.
Athavale, who has represented the constituency, which was earlier called Mumbai north central, in the Lok Sabha in 1998, has demanded at least three Lok Sabha seats and a Rajya Sabha seat from the Shiv Sena and BJP.
“If I want to contest from the seat, I will get it. But my workers want me to get elected to Rajya Sabha as this will leave me free for campaigning during the Lok Sabha polls,” Joshi said, adding that they had short-listed seven seats, Mumbai south central, Kalyan, Latur, Wardha, Ramtek, Pune and Satara.
Athavale, however, said they were amenable to other constituencies. “If we do not get the required number of seats to contest from, the party would decide on the future course of action (regarding snapping ties with the Shiv Sena and BJP)... I do not want to quit the alliance, but if they force me out, what can I do?” he said.
“Dalit voters are opposed to the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance on an ideological level,” said Athavale, adding that however, they would support the saffron alliance against the Congress-NCP due to factors like rising inflation and atrocities against Dalits.
