Despite his unhappiness over seat sharing in Maharashtra, Union Cabinet Minister and Republican Party of India (RPI) President Ramdas Athawale on Monday decided to stay with Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP)-led NDA alliance but demanded RPI representation at the Centre.
"We will stay with NDA but we have certain demands including that RPI should get one seat from Shiv Sena and one from BJP. We want two Lok Sabha seats. One seat should be in Mumbai and one outside Mumbai," he said.
Athawale added, "The party core committee has decided to continue being in NDA and will help Narendra Modi to be re-elected as Prime Minister. But he also added that party is not happy with the new set up of NDA in Maharashtra in terms of seat sharing."
"RPI will try its options for a respectable share of seats in Maharashtra for upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly polls," RPI chief said.
"RPI should get one Cabinet seat at the Centre and a Minister of state from Maharashtra," he demanded if BJP able to form the government after 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
The Shiv Sena will fight on 23 seats and BJP on 25 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra, where 48 seats are at stake.
The two parties have agreed to contest an equal number of seats in the Assembly polls.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
