The Republican Party of India (Athawale) ( RPI(A)) is a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

in India. The party is a splinter group of the

Republican Party of India The Republican Party of India (RPI, often called the Republican Party or simply Republican) is a political party in India. It has its roots in the Scheduled Castes Federation led by B. R. Ambedkar. The 'Training School for Entrance to Polit ...

and has its roots in the

Scheduled Castes Federation The Republican Party of India (RPI, often called the Republican Party or simply Republican) is a political party in India. It has its roots in the Scheduled Castes Federation led by B. R. Ambedkar. The 'Training School for Entrance to Polit ...

led by

B. R. Ambedkar Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956) was an Indian jurist, economist, social reformer and political leader who headed the committee drafting the Constitution of India from the Constituent Assembly debates, served a ...

. The president of the party is

Ramdas Athawale Ramdas Bandu Athawale () (born 25 December 1959) is an Indian politician and social activist from Maharashtra. He is the president of the Republican Party of India (A), a splinter group of the Republican Party of India and has its roots in the S ...

History

was a member of the

Maharashtra Legislative Council The Maharashtra Vidhan Parishad or Maharashtra Legislative Council is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of Maharashtra states and territories of India, state in western India. Location The seat of the Vidhan Parishad is situated at ...

from 1990 to 1995 and a cabinet member in the

Government of Maharashtra The Government of Maharashtra is the state governing authority for the state of Maharashtra, India. It is a democratically elected government with 288 MLAs elected to the Vidhan Sabha for a five-year term. Maharashtra has a Maharashtra Legisla ...

. Subsequently, he was elected to the

Parliament of India The Parliament of India (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameralism, bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the R ...

, representing Mumbai North Central in the

12th Lok Sabha This is the list of members of the 12th Lok Sabha, (10 March 1998 – 26 April 1999) after the 1998 Indian general election held during February–March 1998. This was the second consecutive Lok Sabha, like the 11th Lok Sabha elections that d ...

between 1998–99 and the Pandharpur constituency from 1999 to 2004. After the 2004 election, it had a small representation in the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...

and was a constituent of the ruling

United Progressive Alliance United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is a centre-left political alliance of predominantly left-leaning political parties in India. It was formed after the 2004 general election with support from left-leaning political parties when no single party ...

. Its presence is limited to

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

. All factions of the RPI except

Prakash Ambedkar Prakash Yashwant Ambedkar (IAST: Prakāśa Yaśavanta Āmbēḍakar) (born 10 May 1954), popularly known as Balasaheb Ambedkar, is an Indian politician, social activist, writer and lawyer. He is the president of political party called the Van ...

Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh The Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh (IAST: Bhāripa Bahujana Mahāsaṅgha; BBM) was an Indian political party founded by Prakash Ambedkar on 4 July 1994. The party was a splinter group of the Republican Party of India and had its roots in the Sched ...

have reunited to form a

Republican Party of India (United) The Republican Party of India (United), or RPI(U) is a coalition of many factions of the Republican Party of India (RPI). It was formed in preparation for the 2009 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election. The party was initially led by Rajendra ...

. In 2011, the party aligned itself with the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

-led

National Democratic Alliance National Democratic Alliance (NDA) () is a Centre-right politics, centre-right to Right-wing politics, right-wing and Conservatism, conservative Indian big tent political alliance led by the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It was foun ...

. Rakhi Sawant resigned from Rashtriya Aam Party and joined Republican Party of India (A) in June 2014 and expressed her desire to work for

dalit Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the Caste system in India, castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold Varna (Hinduism), varna syste ...

s. Rakhi serves as party's state vice-president and president of woman wing. In September 2015, the RPI(A) was one of 16 parties in Maharashtra to lose its registration for not submitting audited balance sheets and IT return documents since 2005. Thus they have lost their official election symbols. Athawale is only member in Member of Parliament in Upper House of the Indian parliament. He is currently Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Department with Disability Affairs from July 2016 in

Narendra Modi ministry Modi ministry may refer to: Union Council of Ministers * First Modi ministry, the 22nd government of India headed by Narendra Modi from 2014 to 2019 * Second Modi ministry, the 23rd government of India headed by Narendra Modi from 2019 onwards ...

. In May 2019, Athawale continued his position as Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment.

References

Political schisms Republican Party of India Political parties in Maharashtra Ambedkarite political parties Secularist organizations Socialist parties in India Political parties established in 1999 1999 establishments in Maharashtra {{India-party-stub

History

See also

References