Athawale pitches for talks between Shiv Sena-BJP

New Delhi [India], Feb.9 (ANI): Union Minister of state for Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale on Thursday proposed for talks between Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party to save the alliance.

Ramdas's statement comes hours after the Shiv Sena cornered the BJP-led government and said that they should focus on core issues, rather than doing politics over 'pakoda'.

"Disputes have been there between Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), I proposed (in a meeting with BJP leader Ram Lal) that both should stay together, BJP should talk to Uddhav Thackeray about the problems," Athawale told ANI.

"Since 25-26 years they've been together, I'll also try to keep alliance intact," he added.

Earlier in the day, the Shiv Sena hit out at the BJP over Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah's 'pakoda' remarks and said the Modi government was trying to divert people's attention from key issues, including Kashmir where jawans are dying in firing by Pakistan.

BJP chief Amit Shah recently told in the Rajya Sabha that it was better to sell 'pakodas' than being unemployed.

A few weeks earlier, Prime Minister Modi, said that selling 'pakodas' is also a form of employment and can be seen in the light of 'job creation'. (ANI)