Ramdas Athawale's RPI eyes alliance with BJP for BMC polls; cites 2017 feat

Union Minister Ramdas Athawale invited the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday to contest the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) bypolls in alliance with the Republican Party of India (A). Anticipating that Maharashtra's ruling coalition - Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP - will contest independently in the civic elections, Athawale said that if the BJP and RPI form an alliance, there's 'full possibility' of gaining majority. 

Athawale recalled that in the 2017 Mumbai by-elections, the BJP-RPI alliance had won 82 seats while the ruling Shiv Sena won 84. The next BMC elections are scheduled to take place in February 2022. 

Speaking on the appointment of Mumbai Mayor after a possible victory in the BMC polls, Athawale said, "When we come to power (in BMC polls), the Deputy Mayor in Mumbai will be from RPI," thus indicating that the Mayor would be from BJP.

Addressing party workers at a program in Mumbai, the Union Minister whose party is a BJP ally at the Centre, stated that there are several factions of the Republican Party of India which has divided the marginalised sections of society. 

"I had tried on many occasions to unify all factions of RPI, even offered to make someone else the RPI President but it didn't happen," he said. I am ready to work under the leadership of Balasaheb Ambedkar, (his grandson Prakash Ambedkar) and I say this with full responsibility," the RPI chief added. 

Neck-to-neck battle between Shiv Sena & BJP

The BMC is considered Asia’s richest civic body with an annual budget of nearly Rs.37,000 crore. Shiv Sena has been a formidable force in the civic elections even when NCP-Congress was in power in the state. In the 2017 civic polls, BJP and Shiv Sena contested separately as they could not agree to the seat-sharing formula. 

The results brought in more cheer for BJP than the Sena as the former secured 82 seats, an increase of 51 seats from the previous election. However, the Shiv Sena fell way short of the majority winning just 84 seats. On the other hand, Congress, NCP, and MNS won 31, 7 and 6 seats respectively.

Image: PTI