Seek 10% share in power; Danve-Fadnavis try to pacify
Mumbai : In what is politically significant, the four allies of the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena saffron alliance dispensation, on Saturday renewed their long-pending demand of having a share of power in the government.
Veteran Dalit leader Ramdas Athawale, the president of Republican Party of India (RPI), Mahadev Jankar, the president of Rashtriya Samaj Paksha, Vinayak Mete, the founder-president of Shiv Sangram and Raju Shetti, the founder-president of Swabhimani Shetkari Sangathana, met at the MIG Club at Bandra here, and demanded a 10 per cent share in the government – which includes the ministry and chairpersonship of government-owned bodies and corporations.
Later, they called on chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and formally made the demand.
Fadnavis, whose government completed six months in power on April 30, however, has assured that the allies would be given proper representation and there would be detailed discussions within the coordination committee.
“We are not happy with the BJP. We became part of the Mahayuti because of Gopinath Munde. But, after coming to power everybody is neglecting us. We don’t want to go against the Fadnavis government. But, if we are being ignored, we will have to think otherwise,” Athawale said at a press conference today and demanded a 10% share in the power.
Sources said that the BJP leadership was in constant contact with the leader who met at the MIG club today. “State BJP president Raosaheb Danve spoke to everybody. We told them that many a times it is not possible to make all decisions simultaneously in the politics. We appealed them to wait for a few more days,” a BJP leader told FPJ.
The allies also signalled that they would avoid any tough decision. However, the party workers of Swabhimani Shetkari Sangathana resorted to sloganeering against the Fadnavis governmet outside the MIG club. The meeting was actually scheduled to be held on Tuesday (May 12) but was preponed at the last minute.
The allies are expected to form a coordination committee to decide on the strategy ahead. Amongst the allies, Athawale is a Rajya Sabha MP from BJP quota, while Jankar and Mete had been accommodated as members of Maharashtra Legislative Council again from the BJP’s quota. That is the reason why BJP appears confident to contain the resentment amongst the allies.
