The Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, which carries a substantial amount of Dalit support in Maharashtra, has said they are not willing to take a call on joining the Maha Vikas Aghadi unless it gets its act together. In an exclusive interview to NDTV, VBA chief Prakash Ambedkar said the alliance is still undecided over a handful of seats. The VBA would not “open cards” till the MVA takes a call on these seats, he added.
Asked about the MVA’s approach, he said there is “no openness between them”. “They are hiding something. Whether they are going to stay together is the question. The 15 unresolved seats is the big issue,” he added.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi, which wants VBA to join the alliance, held the latest round of seat-sharing discussions with the party today. Later, Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut described the meet as “positive”. Prakash Ambedkar, he added, “is also satisfied with our stand to oust the authoritarian regime of Prime Minister Narendra Modi”.
Mr Ambedkar, the grandson of Dr BR Ambedkar, the architect of the Indian Constitution, however, begged to differ. Even the discussions, he said, were not running to form.
“There were two ways of discussion: Join and collectively decide 48 seats or they decide between themselves and then we come in,” he told NDTV.
“They (the MVA) had an understanding on some seats. We asked for that data. There are 15 constituencies in which seat sharing has not taken place. Contentious are 10 seats between Congress and Sena, 5 among all three parties. Unless they decide on these seats, we won’t open our cards,” he added.
Prakash Ambedkar’s party wants five seats. The MVA, sources have said, is earmarking only two for them. Asked about the matter, Mr Ambedkar indicated that the MVA has not made a firm offer yet.
“From newspapers, I’m hearing not more than 3 seats,” he told NDTV. But the difficulty, he indicated, runs deeper than numbers.
“Winnable seats are not getting distributed properly. I don’t think anybody want to join such alliance. We want realignment. Parties and alliances have split in Maharashtra. We were not part of any alliance. Reality is parties have split and leaders have changed sides. So re-adjustment has to be done,” he said.
Asked how many seats his party wanted, Mr Ambedkar said, “We were preparing to fight for 48 seats, we have given the list of seats on which we can concentrate. That list has been shared. We have given a list of 27 seats where we can fight”.
The addition of the VBA to the alliance is expected to increase the heft of the MVA. The group became a political force with an anti-BJP stance after the 2019 Bhima-Koregaon clashes.
