After months of vacillation, the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition on Tuesday finally announced the induction of the Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi into the MVA fold even as Mr. Ambedkar complained that his party’s representative was not accorded “due respect” at the seat-sharing meeting held in Mumbai.
Top leaders of the MVA, which comprises of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT), the Congress, and the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party faction, met at Mumbai’s Hotel Trident where a marathon round of deliberations over seat-sharing, and the questions pertaining to the induction of smaller parties, especially the VBA, took place.
Following the meeting, Sena (UBT) spokesperson Sanjay Raut said that the MVA coalition had become stronger with the induction of several new parties, including Mr. Ambedkar’s VBA, the Left parties, the Peasant and Workers Party of India (PWP) within the opposition fold in Maharashtra.
