RPI chief Ramdas Athawale still wants to be in Union Cabinet

RPI president Ramdas Athawale, whose party is a member of the ruling Mahayuti (BJP-led grand alliance) in Maharashtra, on Saturday reiterated demand for a berth in the Union cabinet.

"BJP must honour the written commitment it made prior to elections," Athawale told reporters here. "I am not keen on a ministerial post in the state," Athawale said, referring to the expected expansion of the Devendra Fadnavis ministry.

Athawale, a Rajya Sabha member, said, "I have told the BJP that we must be given at least one good ministry." The RPI faction led by him has no representation in the Lok Sabha or state Assembly. Athawale lost the Lok Sabha poll from Shirdi in 2009 while his party was the part of the Congress- NCP alliance. The RPI leader also demanded that pre-2009 slums be regularised.

The government should start work on Babasaheb Ambedkar's memorial at the Indu Mill land in Mumbai by April 14, the late leader's birth anniversary, he demanded.