Continuing to maintain an ambivalent stance towards forging an alliance with the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) president Prakash Ambedkar on Saturday said his party would announce its decision on March 26 on whether it would contest the Lok Sabha election independently or go along with the MVA.
Mr. Ambedkar again claimed that the MVA parties (which include Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena UBT, the Congress, and Sharad Pawar’s NCP-SP) had yet to resolve their seat-sharing problems and that it was wrong to point fingers at the VBA for acting as a roadblock in seat-sharing discussions.
“If their [MVA’s] seat-sharing problems are not resolved as yet, then what is the point in us making an entry in the MVA. We will wait for two more days, till March 26, to see whether the deadlock between the MVA parties on the 15 Lok Sabha seats is solved. We will then announce our decision,” the VBA chief, who is the grandson of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, said.
Speaking to reporters in Mumbai, Mr. Ambedkar stressed that while the VBA’s objective and that of the MVA as well was that of dislodging the BJP, the Opposition coalition would first have to resolve their alleged internal differences over seat-sharing.
While Mr. Ambedkar hinted ominously that the VBA may not ally with the MVA in the final run-up, he announced that his party would give its full support to Shahu Maharaj Chhatrapati, the MVA’s candidate from the Kolhapur Lok Sabha constituency.
“The VBA believes in and is a major proponent of the Phule-Shahu-Ambedkar ideology, and we have immense respect for the descendants of Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj of Kolhapur,” Mr. Ambedkar said, in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
In the event the VBA goes alone, it would result in cannibalisation of votes and could wreak havoc on the prospects of MVA candidates, particularly those of the Congress and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP whose vote-base is similar to that of the VBA’s.
This scenario had played out in the 2019 General Election, when the VBA, then in alliance with Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM, had caused the defeat of several Congress candidates.
Mr. Ambedkar had forged an alliance with Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT) early last year. However, that alliance now seems to be rapidly unravelling with Mr. Ambedkar particularly miffed with Sena (UBT) spokesperson Sanjay Raut for spreading ‘misinformation’ about talks between the VBA and the MVA partners.
“Instead of carrying what we say, it appears that what Sanjay Raut is saying is given more importance in the media,” Mr. Ambedkar said.
Earlier this week, Mr. Ambedkar had offered support to Congress candidates in any seven Lok Sabha seats and had formally expressed this in a letter addressed to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.
