With Athavale's support, saffrons plan to capture Dalit vote bank

PUNE: With the Athavale faction of the Republican Party of India(RPI) inching towards an electoral poll pact with BJP-Shiv Sena for civic general elections in Maharashtra, the saffron alliance hopes to penetrate into the city's Dalit vote bank dominated by the Congress and like-minded parties, including the NCP.

As a step towards formal electoral pact with BJP-Sena, RPI leader Ramdas Athavale on Thursday announced a public rally on June 9 against the Congress-NCP government. Athawale, Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray and senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde made the announcement at a joint press conference in Mumbai.

"It's a welcome move which will bring strong forces together. In Pune, both the BJP and Shiv Sena and RPI will get mutual benefits from the alliance. This alliance will ensure that the NCP-Congress rule in Pune ends and the new alliance will come to power after February 2012 civic polls," said Sham Deshpande, leader of Shiv Sena in Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC).

Supporting the sentiment, BJP's Vikas Mathkari said, "All three parties have their separate mass base and this mass base is enough to route out NCP-Congress from Pune politics. This is a positive step towards the new beginning in the state and city politics."

BJP leaders admit that the party has failed to expand its base to other communities other than the Brahmins in Pune. "It is fact that we admit candidly. Efforts are being made at all levels to purge the Brahminical face of the party and the alliance with Athavale will provide the BJP a chance to penetrate into the traditional Dalit vote bank which is manipulated by the Congress. The city BJP is also putting hard efforts to expand the Maratha vote bank. If the party succeeds to convert these efforts into votes, the BJP will emerge as the single largest party in Pune and with the support of Shiv Sena could easily get the majority number in the PMC," said a senior BJP ideologue, who requested anonymity.

Shiv Sena, on the other hand, is apprehensive about the exact political benefit to the party. "We cannot judge the benefit at this juncture. All these years, the Sena and RPI have literally locked horns in politics and on street. We will have to wait and watch the reaction of grassroots workers," said senior Sena leader from Pune.

Ramdas Athavale supporters in Pune are finding it hard to swallow the fact. "As of now, Athavaleji has announced agitation against the government. It is the public resentment that has brought all of us together and the anti-government rally is organised by the opposition parties," said RPI corporator and Athavale's supporter Siddharth Dhende.

Meanwhile, NCP and Congress leaders in Pune are worried a lot though they do not admit it on record. Especially, the Congress which banks on Dalit vote bank is forced to plan a counter strategy to keep intact its traditional vote bank. Congress leader in the PMC Aba Bagul preferred to say that his party was watching the developments closely, while NCP leaders kept mum on the development.Dalit politics stand to lose with Athavale's political ploy.



http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-05-13/pune/29539420_1_dalit-vote-bank-rpi-senior-bjp-leader