Nagpur: Shiv Sena and Republican Party of
India on Thursday announced that they would fight the coming
elections to the local bodies in the state together.
RPI chief Ramdas Athawale and Shiv Sena leader Sanjay
Raut said at a press conference here that there were no
ideological differences between the alliance partners.
To a question, Athawale said during the NDA regime -- of
which Sena was a member -- there was an apprehension among the
dalits that the Constitution drafted by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar
would be tampered with.
"BJP national president, Nitin Gadkari, has assured me
that there will be no change in the Constitution (if NDA comes
to power)," Athawale said.
Raut recalled Ambedkar`s association with Prabodhankar
Thackeray -- Sena supremo Bal Thackeray`s father -- and said
the Sena-BJP and RPI alliance would be a great success as the
Ambedkar`s followers had realised that Congress and NCP had
been taking them for a ride all these years.
PTI
