Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and VBA president Prakash Ambedkar.
| Photo Credit: ANI

Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi chief Prakash Ambedkar on July 7 said the VBA’s alliance with the Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray is broken.

The VBA was part of the INDIA grouping before it walked out of the opposition bloc over disagreement on the number of seats allotted to it in Lok Sabha elections. Before joining the INDIA alliance, VBA had allied with Shiv Sena (UBT).

“It’s (the alliance) broken. There is nothing left in it,” Mr. Ambedkar said in response to a question on the alliance with Shiv Sena (UBT).

Grandson of Dr B.R. Ambedkar, Prakash Ambedkar contested from the Akola Lok Sabha seat but lost to BJP’s Anup Dhotre.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) and VBA sealed an alliance in January 2023.

Mr. Thackeray had said his grandfather Keshav Thackeray, also known as Prabodhankar, and Prakash Ambedkar’s grandfather, B.R. Ambedkar, were contemporaries who admired each other.

Mumbai:

NCP legislator Amol Mitkari on Saturday advocated an alliance with the Dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) for the Maharashtra assembly elections.

It was his personal view, said Mr Mitkari, a member of the legislative council and NCP spokesperson.

The Nationalist Congress Party headed by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar is part of the Mahayuti coalition which includes the Shiv Sena and BJP.

Mr Mitkari also said that leaders of Mahayuti should not underestimate the stature of NCP leaders.

“As a party worker, I feel that if Prakash Ambedkar, who is a tall leader, joins hands with Ajit Pawar, who is an important leader, things would be different in Maharashtra. This is my personal opinion,” Mr Mitkari said.

Prakash Ambedkar is the grandson of Dr B R Ambedkar.

Mr Mitkari’s comments come at a time when dissenting voices have emerged in the RSS and Shiv Sena about the inclusion of Ajit Pawar in the Mahayuti alliance.

Reacting to Mitkari’s statement, VBA’s Maharashtra unit chief Rekha Thakur said her party can not even think of joining hands with the NCP as long as it is part of the BJP-led alliance.

Alliance talks between the VBA and the Maha Vikas Aghadi of the Congress, NCP (SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT) before the Lok Sabha elections had fallen through.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Mumbai:

Former Maharashtra chief minister and senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan held out an olive branch to his party’s ‘almost ally’ Prakash Ambedkar today amid differences over the seat-sharing formula for the Lok Sabha elections. Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) was in touch with Maha Vikas Aghadi or MVA – an alliance comprising the Congress, NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) and the Shiv Sena (UBT) for the Lok Sabha polls but the talks failed.

Yesterday, the Congress announced the name of a candidate from Akola even as the MVA had earlier given the VBA a proposal for five seats, including Akola, Ramtek, Dhule and a seat in Mumbai. The Congress announced its candidate after the VBA separately declared names for some Lok Sabha seats, hinting at a rift.

Mr Chavan, however, said that the Congress “will withdraw the Congress candidate from Akola if there is an alliance with the VBA”. Prakash Ambedkar has announced that he would contest from the Akola seat.

“There is no alliance with the VBA yet. If there is no alliance, we will declare candidates. But even now, at this stage also, if (Prakash) Ambedkar reconciles, we will withdraw our candidate but for that, there has to be an alliance,” said Mr Chavan.

Prakash Ambedkar, the grandson of Dalit icon and the father of the Constitution, BR Ambedkar, recently announced candidates for nine Lok Sabha seats in the state, crashing hopes of his party joining the MVA. He took a jibe at the opposition alliance in the state and said there was a clear divergence of opinions.

VBA candidates finished third in many constituencies in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, in which nominees of the Congress or NCP (undivided) came second, indicating that votes were split in favour of winning candidates, mostly from the BJP and Shiv Sena (undivided).

The former Maharashtra Chief Minister also expressed his willingness to contest from the Satara seat. He recently held a closed-door meeting with Maharashtra NCP (Sharad Pawar) chief Jayant Patil in Karad after the NCP MP from Satara, Shrinivas Patil, declined to contest owing to health issues.

Mr Chavan, the MLA from the Karad South constituency, said since the Satara Lok Sabha constituency comes under NCP (SP) quota, Sharad Pawar will decide the candidate.

“There is just a possibility of this contest. The NCP will have to find a candidate and they will have to make sure that a strong candidate is put up against the probable BJP candidate. The BJP will most likely field Uday Bhosle, who was earlier with the NCP, from the seat. Discussions are going on,” he said.

Dismissing the rumours that he might contest under the NCP (SP) symbol, he said, “If I contest, I will be contesting under the Congress symbol. It’s up to Sharad Pawar’s NCP to decide. I have conveyed my willingness.”

Mr Chavan represented Satara in Parliament in the 1990s. He was defeated by Shrinivas Patil in 1999 after Sharad Pawar walked out of the Congress and formed the Nationalist Congress Party. Since then, the NCP (undivided) has fielded candidates from Satara.

He also insisted that candidates for all Lok Sabha seats from Maharashtra will be announced soon. “Out of the 48 seats, names for 45 to 46 seats have been decided. There are issues in two or three seats and that will be sorted in a day or two,” said the senior Congress leader.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won 23 out of 25 contested seats, while the undivided Shiv Sena secured 18 out of 23 seats.

Lok Sabha elections to the 48 seats in the state – the second-largest contributor to the Lok Sabha after Uttar Pradesh – will be held in five phases between April 19 and May 20 and votes will be counted on June 4.

The Congress move to name Abhay Kashinath Patil from Maharashtra’s Akola has put a firm period to its intended  friendly ties with Prakash Ambedkar’s VBA (Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi). Though the alliance plans of the Maha Vikas Aghadi and the VBA fell through, the Congress and Mr Ambedkar had declared support for each other, especially in Akola, a seat the Dalit leader wished to contest.

In Telangana, the Grand Old Party has announced a candidate for Warangal — Kadiyan Kavya, who crossed over from K Chandrasekhar Rao’s Bharat Rashtra Samithi a few days ago. Ms Kavya is daughter of senior BRS leader and sitting MLA Kadiam Srihari, who also served as deputy chief minister in then BRS government. The sitting BRS Lok Sabha member from Warangal, Pasunoori Dayakar, also joined the Congress in Telangana recently.

In Maharashtra, when the MVA and the VBA were discussing seat sharing, the alliance was ready to give Prakash Ambedkar the Akola seat along with four others.

But after the VBA decided to go solo, the Congress — which had been the one pushing for a tie-up — had said it would support Mr Ambedkar from Akola. Mr Ambedkar, whose party has significant support among Dalits in the state, had also promised support to the Congress in multiple seats.

The national party’s move to field its own candidate from the seat, however, indicates it is no longer supporting the VBA as promised and vice versa.

Last week, Mr Ambedkar’s VBA had declared its intention to go it alone in the election, upset over the MVA’s failure to come to an understanding over a handful of contentious seats in the state. Mr Ambedkar later claimed he had spoken to Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil and got his support.

Shortly after, Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena UBT had jumped the gun and announced candidates for 17 seats, sparking speculation about an open rift within the MVA. Four of the 17 seats were coveted by the Congress.

Mumbai:

NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) President Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said seat-sharing among Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) constituents for the Lok Sabha polls is stuck as leaders are waiting for the political outfit led by BR Ambedkar’s grandson Prakash Ambedkar to join the opposition bloc in Maharashtra.

Mr Pawar maintained alliance leaders have suggested giving four to five Lok Sabha seats to the Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), which, he said, has given a list of 16 constituencies where it claims to have a good presence.

He expressed confidence about finalising allocation of seats among MVA allies, which currently includes the Congress, the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar), in the next two to three days.

The MVA is part of the national-level opposition bloc INDIA.

Although the Ambedkar-led party did not win a single seat in the 2019 general elections, it garnered a healthy 14 per cent vote share and damaged prospects of candidates of the Congress and the then-undivided NCP in several constituencies, according to political analysts.

In Nanded, former chief minister of Maharashtra and then Congress candidate Ashok Chavan lost the election by nearly 40,000 votes. The VBA candidate in Nanded had received more than 1 lakh votes.

Mr Ambedkar had then criticised the Congress for not accepting his offer to join hands with him and put up a challenge against the BJP.

Over the last two weeks, Mr Ambedkar and his colleagues have been claiming that MVA leaders are delaying finalisation of seat-sharing formula in the state, which has 48 Lok Sabha constituencies, the second highest after Uttar Pradesh (80).

Asked about this, Mr Pawar said, “We are waiting for the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi to come on board. We want them to come with us. Our seat-sharing formula is on hold for the VBA.” 

The former Union minister asserted that Mr Ambedkar has been talking about ousting the BJP-led government at the Centre.

“If the VBA has any genuine complaints, we are ready to take note and resolve them. We are also ready to take any corrective action. There is a need to bring unanimity at the state level. Prakash Ambedkar always says the Modi government should go. We agree with his line,” he said.

“We will finalise (seat-sharing) in the next two to three days when issues related to VBA are resolved,” said the Rajya Sabha MP.

Asked about the number of constituencies the regional outfit is asking for, Mr Pawar said, “Mr Ambedkar gave a list of 16 seats where the VBA has a good presence. The VBA has asked MVA leaders how many seats they can share out of those 16 constituencies. We have suggested giving four to five seats to them.” 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)