MUMBAI, Nov 24: The Republican Party of India's cadre have more questions than the answers the party leadership could offer over its latest tilt in favour of Congress in Maharashtra.Senior RPI leader Prakash Ambedkar recently announced that the party did not mind having an alliance with Congress. He attributed the party's decision to the wishes of its rank and file, which according to Prakash feel that a pact with Congress was the only way to combat the communal forces ruling the State.However, for those who did not join the RPI faction led by Ramdas Athawle during its sojourn with the Congress, the new development has them completely flabbergasted, especially since it is one by no one but the grand son of Babasaheb Ambedkar. To put it in the words of a grassroots RPI activist, Shivajirao Kamble: ``The party has become a car without steering wheel''. Not surprisingly, for many activists like Kamble the sudden shift in the party's focus from Dalit issues to communalism is puzzling.However, Ambedkar says the party cadre has been perturbed about the manner in which the State is being governed. The financial mismanagement, says Ambedkar, by the saffron coalition has affected the Dalit masses the most.
