Prakash Ambedkar says Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi never opposed allying with Congress, NCP
The Hindu
A proposed alliance between the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and the VBA ahead of the civic polls in Maharashtra has long been on the cards
Stressing that he was never opposed allying with the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) chief Prakash Ambedkar on Sunday said both parties were welcome to join in the proposed alliance between the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction and the VBA.
Ever since current Maharashtra Chief Minister and rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde split the Sena with his revolt and toppled Mr. Thackeray’s tripartite MVA coalition government, a proposed alliance between the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray or UBT) and Mr. Ambedkar’s VBA ahead of the civic polls has long been on the cards.
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However, while Mr. Ambedkar and Mr. Thackeray’s camp have strongly indicated that the alliance is on, a formal announcement is pending, with the VBA chief pointing to the reluctance of Mr. Thackeray’s MVA partners — the Sharad Pawar-led NCP and the Congress — in taking the VBA on board.
Speaking in Amravati district in the Vidarbha region on Sunday, Mr. Ambedkar clarified that he had never been averse to allying with either the Congress or the NCP, but that both parties had “rejected” the VBA in the past.
“Uddhav Thackeray feels he ought to take the Congress and NCP in this alliance [with the VBA] and then make a formal announcement…That is their [the MVA’s] issue. I have said we [the VBA] welcome both parties. So, the day they [the MVA] are decided on this issue, they will perhaps make a formal announcement,” Mr. Ambedkar, grandson of Babasaheb Ambedkar, said.
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