Union Minister Ramdas Athawale on Friday said his RPI(A) will fight the Mumbai civic polls in alliance with the BJP.
Addressing a press conference here, he said the BJP would win Assembly polls in five states, adding that his party would manage to transfer "15 to 20 per cent Dalit votes" to the former in Uttar Pradesh.
"In Mumbai, the BJP and Republican Party of India (Athawale) will fight the polls together. The Shiv Sena, Congress, NCP and MNS will contest independently, which will allow the BJP-RPI(A) to win 120-125 of the 236 seats in BMC," he said.
The Union minister of state for social justice and empowerment, when asked about the hijab controversy and protests, said the head scarf was part of Muslim culture and was all right if it was worn to a market etc, but it cannot be part of dress code in schools. The minister also said is ministry had been given Rs 1,42,334 crore in the Union Budget for 2022-23, up from Rs 1,26,359 in the 2021-22 Budget.
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Replying to some queries from reporters, Athawale made light of the social media banter over him highlighting some typos in a tweet by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, often in the news for his elaborate English vocabulary.
With inputs from PTI.
