While the Shiv Sena's tussle with the BJP has taken the centrestage, another BJP ally, dalit leader Ramdas Athavale's Republican Party of India (A) has thrown a tantrum over its leader not being included in the union council of ministers.

Athavale, a Rajya Sabha MP, was expecting to get rewarded by the BJP with a cabinet berth in the Narendra Modi led cabinet for standing by the party after it split with the Shiv Sena before the assembly polls. Athavale, who was once in the militant Dalit Panthers which had fought pitched battles with the Shiv Sena on Mumbai's streets, had joined hands with his former ideological foe in 2011.

However, Athavale chose to ditch the Sena and support the BJP in this assembly polls. The RPI (A) which had been allocated eight constituencies by the BJP, could put up candidates in only three, all of whom lost though its captive votes have helped the BJP sail through in tough contests. Athavale's decision had also been opposed by his associates like litterateur Arjun Dangle, who threw in their lot with the Shiv Sena, pointing out that the two parties had a common class character compared to the urban, middle-class dominated BJP.

"There is tremendous anger among our workers. We were expecting a ministerial berth," said RPI (A) leader Avinash Mahatekar. He added that the BJP had agreed in writing to give a ministerial berth to the RPI at the Centre and the state apart from representation in the various state run corporations and in the state legislative council.

"However, with this assurance (ministerial berth) remaining unfulfilled, we are not sure about whether the other ones will be taken to fruition," said Mahatekar.

While around 14% of Maharashtra's population consists of dalits, the Buddhist dalits (erstwhile Mahars who converted to Buddhism with Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar) form the majority. The RPI factions are dominated by Buddhist dalits. They have provided crucial foot-soldiers to the Congress- NCP, with whom a majority were aligned with for most of their political lives.

The RPI allied with the Congress since the late 1960s after RPI leader Dadasaheb Gaikwad entered into a truck with senior Congress leader Yashwantrao Chavan. Incidentally, the RPI, which was formed in 1957, a year after Dr Ambedkar's death, was an anti-Congress movement.

The RPI's crisis has been compounded further by the apathy of the dalit educated class, which is estranged from politics and the RPI factions, which have been splitting with almost amoebic efficiency since a year after its birth.

Observers point out that Buddhist dalits who are more militant and aggressive than the "submissive" Hindu dalits were being gradually politically isolated as was indicated by Athavale's defeat by a Hindu dalit, Bhausaheb Wakchoure (Sena) in 2009 from Shirdi. After his Lok Sabha defeat, Athavale had snapped his two decade long association with the Congress and NCP to ally with the Shiv Sena.