Athawale meets Shah, puts forward his demands

Ahead of the assembly polls in Maharashtra, Republican Party of India (RPI) today demanded 7-8 seats from BJP quota in the seat-sharing agreement and 15 per cent share in the government if the alliance comes to power.
In a meeting with BJP president Amit Shah, the party has also demanded a cabinet berth at the Centre, one post of governor, two posts of MLC and nominating its candidates on over 25 boards across the state.
"We gave our list of demands to BJP president ahead of state assembly elections. Most of the talks will be held in Maharashtra, but I was also here to appraise Shah of our party demands. If party comes to power we have also asked for 15 per cent share in the government.

"Modiji had assured one cabinet berth to our party during the cabinet expansion and I spoke to him (Shah) about the same," RPI president Ramdas Athawale said after the meeting, held at the BJP party headquarters here.
The Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in the state, which is witnessing hectic negotations between the two in the seat sharing agreement, is in an upbeat mode after its spectacular performance in the Lok Sabha.
However, the two are having problems from smaller parties of the alliance like Raju Shetti led-Swabhimani Paksh, Vinayak Mete's Shiv Sangram party, Mahadev Jankar's Rashtriya Samaj Paksha and RPI.
Negotiating with the smaller parties is also going to be an uphill task for Shiv Sena and BJP as both have been involved in a tug of war. After its performance in the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP is demanding 50 per cent of the seats of the total 288, to which Shiv Sena has refuses to agree.

The saffron combine, including the smaller parties won 42 of the 48 seats in the state.