The meeting was held at the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Bhavan at New Delhi under the presidentship of Shivram Mogha from Karnataka. Gawai's election as the president of the party was unanimous, RPI general secretary Prof Jogendra Kawade said in a release issued here. The post was vacant due to expulsion of Dalit leader and MP Ramdas Athawale.

In the meeting, it was also decided to have a national demonstration before the Parliament at New Delhi on December 12 on the issue of reservation and the ``superspeciality'' in higher education, which were evoked by the Supreme Court, Kawade said.

It was also decided at the meeting that the RPI would oppose the policy of privatisation of banks, insurance companies and telephone exchanges.