While Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders are trying to rope in the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) into the opposition grand alliance to give a tough fight to the BJP in Maharashtra, VBA convenor Prakash Ambedkar raised his pitch of criticism Is. Senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar has asked Shiv Sena (UBT) to deal with VBA on its own.
The VBA had demonstrated its strength in the 2019 parliamentary and assembly elections. The coalition of small parties from the Dalit and Muslim communities badly affected the traditional vote bank of the Congress. He could register only one victory out of 48 parliamentary constituencies. The experience of 2019 prompted MVA parties to consider including VBA parties in the alliance.
While Congress and NCP have agreed to the proposal in principle and Ambedkar was also invited for a meeting of MVA leaders, both the parties are restless as Ambedkar never misses an opportunity to criticize them. Last week, Ambedkar had advised Thackeray to be careful with his MVA allies and quit the alliance at the earliest, on Saturday he termed the MVA as untenable and said opposition parties would come together only if the BJP wanted it to.
Senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar has reacted to the criticism of Ambedkar in Nagpur. Pawar said, Ambedkar’s opinion about us has always been like this. We had tried to forge an alliance with them earlier also. But, it could not succeed. He has a different opinion about our party. That’s why we have asked Thackeray to go ahead and forge an alliance with Ambedkar. We will support you.
Maharashtra Pradesh Congress President Nana Patole said, “Ambedkar is not a part of the MVA and hence we do not want to react to his statements.” Patole said, “We live in a democracy where everyone has the right to have opinions and talk about them. Ambedkar has been voicing his views. But, this is his issue. He is not related to the MVA.”
