‘VBA not an ally yet’: Prakash Ambedkar’s RSVP to Rahul Gandhi on yatra invite

Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadhi (VBA) president Prakash Ambedkar said it was important that the opposition to the PM Modi-led government takes an inclusive approach

MUMBAI: Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi (VBA) president Prakash Ambedkar on Wednesday said he will not join Congress leader Rahul Gandhi-led ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ in Mumbai, saying his party should first be invited to be part of the opposition’s Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc and the state-level Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA).

Prakash Ambedkar said in the letter that the VBA has been consistently fighting the BJP-RSS (X/Prksh_Ambedkar)

Rahul Gandhi, who kicked off the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from east to west from Manipur on January 14, recently sent out invites to be a part of the yatra when it enters Maharashtra from Nandurbar district on March 15 and culminates in Mumbai on March 20 after covering six districts.

Ambedkar told HT that he could consider joining the march but only as an alliance partner. “I would join the yatra but not before becoming an alliance partner, else it will make no sense for us,” he said, underlining a point that he has made in his two-page letter.

The VBA leader also released his letter to Rahul Gandhi on Facebook and X on Tuesday evening. The letter complained that the VBA had not been inducted into the INDIA alliance or the MVA despite repeated communications to Congress president Mallikaarjun Kharge. “The irony is that your invitation says that “You are an important pillar of the INDIA Alliance,” it said.

“It would be difficult for me to join your Yatra without the long-awaited invitation to join both INDIA and MVA… Joining you in your Yatra will lead to speculations of alliance, which has not been materialised and will have negative implications,” he said.

The Congress and the other two MVA constituents, Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Sharad Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have been open to joining hands with Ambedkar’s party. The three parties, however, believe that the VBA was trying to punch way above its weight. Ambedkar’s party wants to be allotted 12 of Maharashtra’s 48 Lok Sabha seats.