New Delhi: Republican Party of India (RPI) chief Ramdas Athawale on Wednesday met Bharatiya Janta Party president JP Nadda and demanded an alliance with the BJP to contest at least 8 to 10 Assembly seats in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh elections. Addressing a press conference on Thursday, RPI chief Athawle said, "Yesterday, I met BJP chief JP Nadda with regards to the upcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab. BJP has an alliance with RPI in Maharashtra. I demanded the same in other states too."
"Especially in UP, BJP should contest with RPI because it will help to cut Bahujan Samaj Party votes. Many leaders from BSP can join RPI and many have joined. During yesterday's meet, I demanded to contest on 8 to 10 seats in UP and Nadda has told me to think on it." "In other states like Uttarakhand, we can contest on 1 or 2 seats. In Punjab, Akali Dal and BSP have an alliance. The state has a good number of scheduled caste population, and if BJP goes with RPI in the state then it will benefit the saffron party," he added.
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Athawale further said that he told JP Nadda that if his party would have fought together in West Bengal then the seats which they lost with just a margin of 1,000-2,000 votes would have been with the BJP because the state has around 36 per cent votes which belong to the scheduled caste.
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