A day after the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders claimed that their seat-sharing was proceeding smoothly, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) chief Prakash Ambedkar — an MVA constituent — struck a discordant note, demanding that Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil be allowed to contest from the Jalna Lok Sabha seat.
Despite not having a single MP in Maharashtra, Mr. Ambedkar, whose stand appears to have thrown a spanner in the MVA works, skipped the Opposition meeting on Wednesday, while sending a list of specific demands to the core MVA parties (Congress, Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar’s NCP) which, including nominating 15 OBC candidates and three candidates from religious minorities.
The VBA’s demand to give a ticket to Mr. Jarange-Patil, who has recently been accused by the ruling BJP of being an ‘agent’ of Sharad Pawar’s NCP faction, is likely to embarrass Mr. Pawar.
