Ambedkar snaps ties with Sena (UBT), gives three-day ultimatum to MVA to finalise pact

He also declared that their alliance with Shiv Sena (UBT) doesn’t exist any longer. Announcing the same, the VBA president said, “I don’t think there is any alliance left between us. We are in a four-party agreement which was earlier exclusively between two parties

Mumbai: Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) chief Prakash Ambedkar on Saturday gave a three-day ultimatum to the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) to take a decision on the alliance. He said that he would wait for the MVA till March 26 after which he would make his own decision. He also declared snapping ties with Shiv Sena (UBT) that they formed more than a year ago. Ambedkar denied getting an offer of four seats from the MVA as announced by MVA leaders. He insisted that he was offered only three seats, which he refused to take.

Pune, India - November 26, 2018: Prakash Ambedkar speak at Wanchit Bahujan Samaj convention at SSPMS ground in Pune, India, on Monday, November 26, 2018. (Photo by Sanket Wankhade/HT PHOTO)

With those remarks, Ambedkar seems to have taken a tough stand against MVA and wants the issue to be resolved soon.

“We have decided to wait till March 26 after which we will take our decision,” the VBA chief announced. “We were never offered four seats. In fact, only three seats were offered, of them, one was of Akola, which we refused to take so technically only two seats were offered,” he pointed out. Ambedkar has been demanding 12 out of the 48 Lok Sabha seats to join MVA. He alleged that the Congress, ShivSena (UBT) and NCP have failed to iron out their differences but are trying to blame him for their failure. “This is the reason we had offered Congress to share the names of seven seats where they want VBA to extend support during the general elections as all the three parties are likely to contest polls on their own,” Ambedkar claimed.

VBA has recently offered support to Congress candidates in seven Lok Sabha constituencies by sending a letter to party president Mallikarjun Kharge.

On Saturday, he also extended unconditional support to Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj, a 12th descendent of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, who will contest the Lok Sabha elections from Kolhapur on a Congress ticket.

He also declared that their alliance with Shiv Sena (UBT) doesn’t exist any longer. Announcing the same, the VBA president said, “I don’t think there is any alliance left between us. We are in a four-party agreement which was earlier exclusively between two parties… There is no alliance left.”

Explaining the decision, Ambedkar said that they were of the view that Shiv Sena (UBT) and they should form their own strategy as allies before approaching MVA. “But they (Shiv Sena (UBT) independently started a discussion on their own. If we joined MVA then we are alliance partners, if not then we are no allies.”