Nagpur: BJP president Nitin Gadkari on Monday hit
out at Congress and NCP, calling them "casteist", and accusing
them of adopting "use and throw" policy when dealing with the
factions of Dalit-dominated Republican Party of India.
Shiv Sena-BJP recently formed an alliance with the RPI
faction led by Ramdas Athawale.
Gadkari also said that NCP belonged to a "particular
community", and both the parties had been taking the RPI
workers and leaders for a ride all these days.
Addressing a gathering at `Republican Mahotsava` to mark
the 54th anniversary of founding of RPI by late Dr Babasaheb
Ambedkar, and in a show of strength of Sena-BJP-RPI alliance,
Gadkari called on Athawale to ensure that the alliance
dislodged the ruling Congress-NCP in the next Maharashtra
elections.
Dismissing the allegation that BJP intended to tinker
with the Constitution, Gadkari said it was the Congress which
had amended the Constitution 82 times. The late Indira Gandhi,
the former Prime Minister, had "violated the Constitution"
during the emergency in 1975, he said.
Alleging that Congress tried to cause "misunderstanding"
between the saffron parties and the RPI factions, the BJP
president said, "We were always dubbed as a communal party and
killers of Mahatma Gandhi."
Lauding alliance partner Shiv Sena, Gadkari said Shiv
Sena chief Balasaheb Thackeray was the finest example of a
non-communal leader, who had given election tickets to dalits
in the past.
PTI
