Mumbai, Dec. 30 -- Republican Party of India (RPI) chief Ramdas Athawale on Tuesday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of sidelining his party during seat-sharing talks for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections.

Highlighting the RPI's political strength in Mumbai, Athawale said the reunion of the BJP and Shiv Sena had adversely affected his party's chances, adding that the RPI was not even included in seat-sharing discussions. He claimed that the party was informed very late that it had been allotted just six seats.

"The coming together of the BJP and Shiv Sena created a problem in giving tickets to RPI. The Republican Party is a very strong party in Mumbai... But the BJP has ignored us... We were not called even ...