Both Sena factions bag Dalit parties for civic elections

A day after Prakash Ambedkar, Dr B R Ambedkar’s grandson and chief of the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), announced that the decision of the alliance between his outfit and the Shiv Sena (UBT) had been finalised, another Dalit leader, Jogendra Kawade, who heads the People’s Republican Party, joined hands with Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena (BSS) led by chief minister Eknath Shinde

Mumbai: A day after Prakash Ambedkar, Dr B R Ambedkar’s grandson and chief of the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), announced that the decision of the alliance between his outfit and the Shiv Sena (UBT) had been finalised, another Dalit leader, Jogendra Kawade, who heads the People’s Republican Party, joined hands with Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena (BSS) led by chief minister Eknath Shinde. Both alliances are for the forthcoming civic polls.

Mumbai, Jan 04 (ANI): Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Peoples Republican Party of India (RPI) founder and president Jogendra Kawade hold hands on alliance between the two parties, in Mumbai on Wednesday. (ANI Photo) (Deepak Salvi)

Kawade joined hands with BSS on Wednesday and announced that he would hold rallies to convince Dalit voters. He said there was no pre-condition to his joining BSS. “We decided to ally with BSS because the chief minister has been working in the interests of the people,” he said. “This is the alliance of the ideology of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Shahu Maharaj, Mahatma Phule and Prabodhankar Thackeray. We will work for the poor and downtrodden.”

Mainstream parties’ alliances with Dalit parties are important for the former, as Dalit voters account for 13 percent of the state’s population. The VBA, formed ahead of the 2019 general elections, had polled 6.92 percent votes as well as 4.6 percent votes in the assembly polls the same year. This combination of smaller parties representing SC and ST voters resulted in top leaders like Ashok Chavan and Sushilkumar Shinde losing the elections.

Ambedkar said his party was preparing for 83 seats in the BMC elections before his talks with Sena (UBT) began. “We know that the number of seats we are likely to get in the alliance will be less now but we are ready for it,” he said. However, he added that the Congress and NCP were not very keen on inducting VBA into the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi coalition. “The NCP has been openly opposing this while the Congress is doing it indirectly,” he said. “It all depends on how firmly the Sena (UBT) stands its ground.”