Will Ramdas Athavale's RPI play spoilsport in polls?
Published: Saturday, Nov 19, 2011, 9:15 IST
By Shubhangi Khapre | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA
The Republican Party of India led by Ramdas Athavale has taken the
centre stage in state politics — a worrying sign for the
Congress-Nationalist Congress Party combine.
The combine reckons that even if the small dalit pockets dotted in
every constituency shift loyalties to the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata
Party alliance, it will upset the poll mathematics of Congress-NCP.
Athavale has already declared his mission is to drive deputy chief
minister Ajit Pawar out of home turf Pune. The battle is now against
Congress and NCP, he asserted.
An in-house study conducted by Congress and NCP indicated the RPI will
play a significant role in damaging the electoral prospects of
Congress and NCP in parts of western Maharashtra, Vidarbha and Mumbai.
The elections for 27 zilla parishads, 196 municipal councils, 310
panchayats and 14 municipal corporations in the state will take place
between December and February.
In Vidarbha, dominant dalit leaders, such as Yogendra Kawade and
Prakash Ambedkar, have always worked against the Congress. The RPI
factor will further consolidate the anti-Congress platform.
But western Maharashtra,for the first time, faces the wrath of
Athavale's party. RPI's decision to enter into alliance with Sena-BJP
to teach Congress and NCP a lesson has upset the ruling parties
calculations as 10.5% dalits vote bank was always taken for granted.
Athavale, who is most popular dalit leaders in Maharashtra, wields
clout among 6% of this 10.5% vote bank.
NCP president Sharad Pawar has urged the state unit leaders to counter
RPI by winning the trust of local dalit leaders in their respective
districts, but the party has not made much headway in the last six
months to win the support of influential local dalit players.
The Congress is banking on its old guard MP Eknath Gaikwad and former
minister Chandrakant Handore to arrest the drift of dalits from
Congress in Mumbai.
The Congress plans to whip up the issues of renaming Dadar station Dr
BR Ambedkar and redevelopment of Chaityabhoomi to strike an emotive
chord with dalits.
Dalit writer Arjun Dangle said: "The generation next of dalits believe
in pragmatic politics. They are not going to fall prey to such emotive
gimmicks which Congress has played for 40 years. A dalit youth is
wants to know what Congress can offer for their emancipation."
Even political managers in Congress admit that in local bodies
elections even a vote bank between 500 to 5,000 can make a huge
impact.
Dalit political observer Tushar Jagtap said: "The RPI factor cannot be
undermined as it has presence in every constituency. Unless
effectively countered, the RPI factor in Sena-BJP alliance can alter
the face of politics."
In the last elections, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) had split
the Marathi votes helping to enhance the Congress results.
Now, it is feared that dalit voters can help negate the MNS factor as
Marathi voters remain the common factor for both MNS and RPI.
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