Devyani Khobragade’s father joins Athawale’s RPI

Mumbai: Republican Party of India (RPI) chief Ramdas Athawale welcomes former IAS officer Uttam Khobragade, who joined the party in Mumbai on Tuesday.

Uttam Khobragade, former IAS officer and father of diplomat Devyani Khobragade, on Tuesday joined the Republican Party of India (RPI- A), which is part of the Bharatiya Janta Party-Shiv Sena led Mahayuti (grand alliance) in Maharashtra.

Mr. Khobragade will function as just one rung below party president and Rajya Sabha MP Ramdas Athawale. Though Mr. Khobragade, a Dalit, stressed that his primary motive behind joining the RPI was to “revitalize” the Ambedkarite Dalit movement, he is also keen on contesting the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly polls.

He hopes to contest the Dharavi seat, which has a strong Dalit presence, though that will depend on how many seats the party is allocated within the alliance.

“If the party wants, I will contest. We have demanded Dharavi from our allies,” he told The Hindu . Mr. Khobragade, a 1984 batch IAS officer, said he was open to contesting from other seats depending on “winnability.”

In the aftermath of the Devyani imbroglio with the US, Mr. Khobragade earlier this year expressed his desire to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Vidarbha but he could not muster a ticket from any party.

Mr. Khobragade said he was also approached by the Bahujan Samaj Party. However, the “RPI was a natural choice for me. The BSP has no reach in Maharashtra,” he said. He stressed his connection with the RPI went back to the 1960s when the party supported his satyagraha .

Mr. Khobragade said he did not consider joining the Congress because “no self-respecting Dalit” could ever join the party.

Mr. Khobragade’s stint as a bureaucrat was eventful and not short on controversies with his name linked to the multi-crore Adarsh scam. “In four years, the CBI filed three charge sheets. Where did you see my name?” he asked on Tuesday when journalists raised the matter. Mr. Khobragade was a member of the high-powered Mashlekar Committee on spurious drugs during his tenure as the head of the Food and Drugs Administration in 2003.

Meanwhile, Mr. Athawale said he was hopeful that BJP chief Amit Shah would meet him during the latter’s visit to Mumbai on Thursday. The RPI has submitted a list of 57 seats to its allies and expects to get around 20, Mr. Athawale said.