MUMBAI: In a blow to Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) is unlikely to be part of the opposition alliance for the Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra.
MVA partners have decided to contest all 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state -- Shiv Sena (UBT) 20 seats, Congress 18 seats and NCP (SP) 10 seats. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said they had offered four seats to Prakash Ambedkar, but he neither accepted nor denied it.
“We tried our best but some of the things were out of our hands. We would have been happy had Ambedkar joined us to fight against the BJP and save democracy and Constitution written by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar,” Raut said.
Earlier, Prakash Ambedkar wrote to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, saying he lost trust in Sharad Pawar-led NCP and Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena and expressing desire to support the Congress in seven seats. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, VBA got 7 per cent votes. Though it did not win a seat, it was instrumental in the defeat of the Congress and NCP on nine seats.
The Congress has already shortlisted candidates for Akola, and Solapur where Ambedkar had staked claim. In 2019, Ambedkar he contested from Akola, and came third.
A senior NCP (SP) leader said, “Ambedkar does talk big against the BJP, but he was not ready to join the anti-BJP forces like MVA in Maharashtra with unexplained reasons. We tried everything to get him on board, but he never showed interest to join us.” He added, “Since the beginning,
Ambedkar put illogical demand for seats and keptwriting letters and posting on social media. Alliance talk and seat sharing does not take place on social media. Many things need to be resolved behind the curtain but Ambedkar was not ready for it.” A VBA leader said, “MVA never respected us and was not interested in taking us on board.”