Union Minister and Republican Party of India chief Ramdas Athawale on Friday said his party has sought ten seats in the BJP-Shiv Sena led alliance for the Maharashtra Assembly electoins as he expressed confidence of the combine winning 250 of the total 288 seats.
He also appealed to the BJP and Shiv Sena to ensure there was no problem in finalising the seat sharing and they should remain togther.
"The Maharashtra election is coming next month. BJP and Shiv Sena and Republican Party will come together.Out of 288 seats, definitely, we will win 240 to 250 seats in Maharashtra," he told reporters here.
"My party has demanded 10 seats," he said and added that in the Lok Sabha polls, BJP, Shiv Sena and RPI (A) came together and won 41 of the total 48 seats.
Talking about Jammu and Kashmir, Athawale said development did not take place because of Article 370. None could go and start a business in Jammu and Kashmir because of the special status under the Article 370, he said.
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Babasaheb Ambedkar, who founded RPI, had opposed Article 370 and absence of development in J-K led to an increase in terror activities which made the NDA government to abrogate the provision, Athawale, Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, said.
He appealed to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to hand over to India the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
"I appeal to Imran Khan, if you want the development of people in Pakistan, you should hand over the PoK to India," Athawale said adding such a course would promote friendship between the two neighbours and help in development of Pakistan.
Athawale also said the minorities need not have any fears during the NDA regime.
Claiming that the number of cases under SC, ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act were more in Telangana at 1946 in 2018, he suggested that Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao take steps to check violations.
He said the Centre was considering enacting a legislation for the benefit of transgender community.
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