Despite the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition announcing the induction of the Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi into the MVA fold, Mr. Ambedkar on Wednesday clarified that his party was not yet part of the MVA, while demanding that the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) ought to give its formal acceptance to include his party as part of the opposition.
Mr. Ambedkar further complained there was no clarity on part of the Congress top brass as to whether Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole had the authority to take a decision on inducting the VBA into the MVA fold.
The VBA chief further said that the three major MVA constituents – the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT), the Congress, and the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction – must decide on their seat-sharing formula before the February 2 meeting in which the VBA was invited.
“The VBA should not yet be regarded as part of the MVA coalition. If the MVA wishes to include us, then the top Congress leadership, that is the AICC, must give clarity on whether Patole has been given the authority to decide on our induction else there could be future conflicts in which the Maharashtra Congress chief thinks one thing and his superiors think something else,” Mr. Ambedkar, who is the grandson of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, said.
On Tuesday, the MVA leadership, following a marathon meeting in Mumbai, had announced that it was taking along a number of smaller parties into its fold, especially the VBA.
While the VBA representatives had demanded a letter from the Congress, the latter party has apparently given it a letter stating that Mr. Ambedkar was now part of the MVA fold.
However, Mr. Ambedkar said the letter only had Mr. Patole’s signature on it.
“We were told that senior Congressmen Ashok Chavan and Balasaheb Thorat, too, had been given the task of holding seat-sharing parleys with us. Their signatures are not present in the letter. Hence, we demand a formal assent from the AICC regarding our induction into the MVA fold,” the VBA leader said.
Mr. Ambedkar further said that the VBA had 15 points including the ongoing Maratha reservation and OBC concerns that it wished to raised with the MVA partners, and that unless a common minimum programme was worked out between all parties, there was no point in going forward with the collective alliance.
“Every party that is being inducted in the reorganised MVA must be given a voice. A common minimum programme must be chalked out else the MVA, too, is in danger of disintegrating like the INDIA alliance currently is,” Mr. Ambedkar said.
