Like other political parties, is RPI too trying to take credit on the Indu mill issue?

MUMBAI: Politics over Indu mill land has begun. The Republican Party of India (RPI -A) too has joined the bandwagon of political parties who are claiming the credit for getting Indu mill land for Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar's memorial.

The RPI-A has organised a function where it will felicitate party president Ramdas Athavale for his contribution in getting the mill land for construction of international memorial of Dr Ambedkar. The function will be held on December 23 in Mumbai. Interestingly the RPI-A has invited Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut and BJP stalwart Gopinath Munde as special guest for the function. In fact Raut has been stating that no party should try to take credit on the Indu mill issue.

In first week of December, the union government announced its decision to hand over the 12.5-acre Indu Mill land for construction of memorial. The state government will appoint a separate authority and bear the entire cost for the memorial.

The Dr Ambedkar memorial has become a key political issue as the ruling Congress-NCP alliance is keen on getting dalit vote back to its camp before the 2014 parliamentary and assembly elections. The DF government has pulled out all stops to woo the dalit voters following the Shiv Sena-BJP combine's electoral pact with the Ramdas Athavale-led RPI during the 2012 Mumbai civic polls.