Despite the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) expressing confidence in taking along the Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi for the Lok Sabha election, Mr. Ambedkar continued to keep his alliance partners guessing while stating that his party was “still in doubt” whether it was indeed a constituent of the MVA coalition.
Speaking in Akola, Mr. Ambedkar, a recent inductee into the MVA (comprising of the Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray or UBT faction, the Congress, and Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party or NCP faction), claimed that the VBA could win at least six seats if it went alone in the upcoming Lok Sabha election.
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Mr. Ambedkar again reiterated his demands to the core MVA parties about giving tickets to 15 Other Backward Classes (OBC) candidates, and three candidates from religious minorities in the Lok Sabha election. Mr. Ambedkar, a grandson of the late Bharat Ratna Babasaheb Ambedkar, further sought an assurance from the MVA parties that they would not ally with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) under any condition.
“It is wrongly stated in the media that these are our ‘conditions.’ We do not have any conditions. But looking at the past history of some of the MVA parties, they should assure secular voters that they will not ally with the BJP in the future. The purpose is that secular voters should be reassured their votes will go to a secular party that will not change its ideological position,” the VBA chief said, in a pointed remark at Mr. Pawar’s NCP and Mr. Uddhav Thackeray’s Sena faction.
Even as Mr. Ambedkar, who despite not having a single MP, continues to drive a hard bargain in lieu of the three MVA parties seeking his support, a video message of the VBA chief, exhorting his workers to not attend MVA meetings as the VBA was still not a constituent of the Opposition coalition, went viral.
However, Mr. Ambedkar said the message was intended to keep his cadre in line and prevent confusion among them until the three MVA parties had finished their seat-sharing deliberations.
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“We are waiting for the MVA parties to finish their discussions…I hear from reports that the seat-sharing between the Congress and the Shiv Sena (UBT) are stuck on 15 seats, while the Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar’s NCP are wrangling over nine seats,” the VBA chief said, adding that he hoped the seat-sharing issues between the three MVA parties would be resolved by March 6.
While Mr. Ambedkar remained noncommittal on his future course of action in the event the seat-sharing between the VBA and the three MVA parties did not work out, he said the situation in the State was such that the upcoming election would be a showdown between the BJP and the VBA.
Meanwhile, senior Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar said that the MVA partners would talk with the VBA and that by March 6, the knotty problem of seat-sharing would be resolved between the four parties.
Shiv Sena (UBT) spokesperson Sanjay Raut swept aside suggestions of any friction between the MVA trio and the VBA, stating that the VBA and the Shiv Sena (UBT) cadre were working together on the ground with single-minded determination.
