Dalit Panther leader backs party for PMC, PCMC polls, to go along with the BJP-Sena-RPI alliance in Mumbai.
While the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance is hopeful of gaining Dalit votes with Republican Party of India (RPI) leader, Ramdas Athavale joining it, the Congress is moving to gain ground in western Maharashtra by joining hands with Dalit Panther leader, Namdeo Dhasal who was disgruntled over seat-sharing issues in the civic polls.
Addressing a press conference at Congress Bhavan on Monday along with ministers Harshwardhan Patil and Patangrao Kadam, Dhasal announced that Dalit Panther has decided to go along with the Congress in western Maharashtra. However, it will remain a part of the mega-alliance of Shiv Sena-BJP-RPI in Mumbai.
Dhasal met Kadam, Patil and other Congress leaders at Congress Bhavan. He has demanded from the Congress party five seats in the PMC and three in PCMC elections.
After the meeting, Dhasal told reporters, “I faced only disappointment in the mega-alliance but it was too late to fall out of it. I also did not want to do any harm to Ramdas Athavale’s alliance with the Shiv Sena and the BJP, therefore I took a decision to go with the mega-alliance in Mumbai. However in case of western Maharashtra, I have decided to go with the Congress party.”
Dhasal will remain a part of the mega-alliance in Mumbai, Nashik and Nagpur, but in PMC and PCMC he will contest elections in alliance with the Congress against the mega-alliance as well as the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
Dhasal said, “Earlier, I had refused to get involved in electoral politics, but now it is realised that the Dalit population requires a representation in the assembly. Therefore, we have decided to go in for the elections. However, Dalit organisations cannot contest elections alone and they will have to make an alliance with the national parties and thus the alliance has been formed.”
Dhasal’s party has had a long alliance with the Shiv Sena. However recently, his relations with the Shiv Sena have gone sore and now he has taken a decision to support the Congress in western Maharashtra. When Dhasal was asked about the change of stand, he said, “Earlier we had worked with Indira Gandhi, but during the Emergency, Dalit Panther became friends with Shiv Sena and we worked together. But now we have decided to support the Congress party again.”
Dhasal made it clear that he will not go along with the NCP as their political stands are opposite.
The city Congress, which wanted a Dalit face for the upcoming elections, was happy with the alliance. The minister for forests, Patangrao Kadam said, “Namdeo Dhasal is an ideologist and with the help of this alliance a Dalit ideology has come with the Congress, which will benefit us in the upcoming elections.”
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