Following his reported meeting with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) chief Prakash Ambedkar on January 1 hinted that his party’s entry into the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in Maharashtra was imminent, but stated that the doors for his induction into the national INDIA bloc still remained shut.
The VBA chief, who is the grandson of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, was speaking on the sidelines of the 206th celebrations of the 1818 Bhima-Koregaon battle after paying homage at the ‘Jayastambh’ (victory pillar) at Perne village in Pune district.
Speaking on his alleged meeting with Mr. Pawar at the latter’s residence in Pune, Mr. Ambedkar said: “We [alluding to MVA parties] are all anyway going to come together. So, there will be official and unofficial meetings at different places and times between us. It is pointless speculating on such meetings now as they will be held more frequently henceforth.”
Mr. Ambedkar reportedly met with the 83-year-old NCP chief on Sunday night.
However, the fate of his induction into the Indian National Democratic, Inclusive Alliance remained nebulous, with the VBA putting the ball in the Congress’s court, remarking that it would have to decide when to give entry to the VBA.
“It is up to them to decide when to give us entry. The doors for the VBA [to be part of the INDIA bloc] are still closed. The day we become part of the INDIA, we will form a plan to expose how PM Modi has fooled his countrymen,” the VBA chief said.
Mr. Ambedkar is allied with Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT) in Maharashtra. The Sena (UBT) is, in turn, allied with the Congress and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP faction as part of the opposition MVA coalition in Maharashtra.
Mr. Ambedkar, who has often expressed his frustration at the Congress dragging its feet over inducting the VBA into the Opposition, had said last year that his party had written on this issue to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge in September at the time of the third INDIA bloc meeting in Mumbai but had received no response from the Congress on this count.
Recently, however, some senior leaders in the Maharashtra Congress have favoured taking the VBA along in Maharashtra as it would help prevent vote fragmentation in the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha election.
In constant touch
Sena (UBT) spokesperson Sanjay Raut on Monday said there was excellent coordination between the VBA on the one hand and the Sena (UBT) and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP faction on the other.
“Prakash Ambedkar is in constant touch with Mr. Thackeray and Mr. Pawar. The VBA should have a place in the MVA alliance. We are having discussions on that count,” Mr. Raut said.
At the same time, Mr. Raut said that the VBA’s induction into the INDIA alliance was “another issue.”
“For the time being, we are only thinking about Maharashtra,” he said.
New direction
Gunning for the VBA’s induction into the INDIA bloc, NCP MP Supriya Sule, who is Mr. Pawar’s daughter, said that Mr. Ambedkar was someone who could give new direction and leadership to the youth of Maharashtra.
“I have full confidence that Mr. Ambedkar will be given an important role in the INDIA alliance. All of us should come together ahead of the 2024 election to save the Constitution,” Ms. Sule said.
Last week, Mr. Ambedkar had proposed an equitable seat-sharing formula for the four Opposition parties — Congress, NCP (Sharad Pawar faction), Sena (UBT) and the VBA – in which all of them would contest 12 Lok Sabha seats each. There are 48 Lok Sabha seats in the State.
Mr. Ambedkar’s formula has yet to be met with any response by any of the MVA parties.
Despite not having a single MP, the VBA claims that none of the three MVA parties, including the Congress, are capable of defeating the BJP on its own.
