RPI chief urges BJP to counter Congress propaganda on Muslims

Republican Party of India (Athawale) chief Ramdas Athawale today asked the BJP to declare its policy on Muslims and Dalits well before the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections and the state assembly.
Since the Congress is carrying out propaganda that the BJP is against Muslims and Dalits, it is absolutely essential for the BJP to declare its views about these sections of society, he told reporters here.
He suggested that BJP must hold a nationwidec initiative to counter the wrong propaganda being carried out by the Congress.
He told reporters that discussions on seat sharing between constituents of the alliance would be discussed at a meeting to be held on January 14 and that the seat sharing arrangement would be BJP would contest 26 seats and and Shiv Sena would contest 22 seats.

"We had asked for seven Lok Sabha seats and one Rajya Sabha seat. We will get three Lok Sabha seats and one Rajya Sabha seat as per the in-principle agreement," he said.
When asked why his party compromised for three Lok Sabha seats, he said, "We thought that even if we could get three Lok Sabha seats and if we win from two of them, we can retain our status as a national party".
When asked if entry of Raju Shetty into the alliance would have any affect on RPI, he said that the RPI won't be affected at all.

Asked if the AAP factor would adversely affect the BJP-Sena alliance, the said that it would affect the Congress adversely.