Saffron-RPI poll panel's maiden meet today

Amid unease in Dalit leader and former Lok Sabha MP Ramdas Athavale’s Republican Party of India (RPI-A) over seat-sharing with the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance, the coordination committee of the three parties will meet for the first time on Tuesday to discuss the sharing of constituencies in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and iron out differences.

The Sena has nominated senior leaders Liladhar Dake, Subhash Desai and Gajanan Kirtikar to the committee, while the BJP will be represented by leader of the opposition in the state legislative council Vinod Tawade, state unit chief Devendra Fadnavis and his predecessor Sudhir Mungantiwar.

Litterateur Arjun Dangle and senior leaders Avinash Mahatekar and Bhupesh Thulkar will make up the RPI-A’s quota, with Uddhav, senior BJP leader and former deputy CM Gopinath Munde and Athavale expected to intervene on issues which can’t be resolved by the committee.

A senior BJP leader said the committee will plan for the coming polls and look at launching agitations, with participation from all three political parties.