Stung by seat row with RPI, Dalit Panther to back Cong

Updated on: 18 January,2012 07:24 AM IST |
Priyankka Deshpande |

Dalit Panther, a part and parcel of the RPI, will support the Congress in the upcoming civic elections in the city and Pimpri-Chinchwad.

Dalit Panther, a part and parcel of the RPI, will support the Congress in the upcoming civic elections in the city and Pimpri-Chinchwad. The decision was taken by Dalit Panther founder Namdeo Dhasal on Monday after a seat-sharing dispute with the RPI in the city.

Dalit Panther founder Namdeo Dhasal

"We had a dispute with the RPI over seat-sharing in Ghorpadi Gaon in the city, which impelled us to go with the Congress in the PMC and the PCMC polls," Dhasal said yesterday. Earlier, in a recent press conference, Dhasal had said that Dalit Panther had requested the RPI to share five to six seats with it in the civic elections and if the RPI could not do it, the option of going with other parties was open to Dalit Panther.

"I met Congress leader Dr Patangrao Kadam a couple of days back and extended our party's support to the Congress and demanded six and three seats in PMC and PCMC polls respectively," said Dhasal.u00a0u00a0He said the Congress Party had responded positively to the Dalit Panther decision to support it and would let it know its decision on sharing of seats in two to three days.