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Maharashtra: Setback for MVA as Prakash Ambedkar's party decides to go solo in 2024 Lok Sabha elections
Prakash Ambedkar announced names of eight candidates and said one for Ramtek will be announced later in the afternoon.
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Prakash Ambedkar of the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi has severed ties with the Maha Vikas Aghadi or MVA in Maharashtra, announcing that the party will go solo in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. This comes a day after the party had given an ultimatum on deciding on his demands for seats.
At a press conference in Akola, Prakash Ambedkar on Wednesday announced the names of eight candidates and said that one for Ramtek will be announced later in the afternoon.
He has joined hands with community-based organisations like the OBC federation and the Maratha community. Ambedkar alleged that the MVA was not ready to consider the Manoj Jarange Patil factor in alliance. The MVA wanted to use the VBA to protect their dynasty politics, he alleged.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi comprises the Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress, and NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar).
Notably, the VBA had been trying hard to forge an alliance with the MVA to challenge the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA in the Lok Sabha elections
Siddharth Mokle, chief spokesperson and state vice president of the VBA, earlier claimed that a false picture is being portrayed to show that the party was responsible for the delay by the Maha Vikas Aghadi in finalising a seat-sharing formula for the Lok Sabha elections.
“The VBA was constantly making statements and informing its supporters about the progress in the seat-sharing formula. The MVA constituents have a dispute over 15 parliamentary constituencies. While the Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) are at loggerheads in 10 seats, all three parties have staked claims on the remaining five seats,” news agency PTI quoted him as saying.
The VBA had damaged the prospects of UPA candidates in Nanded, Solapur, Hatkanangale, Beed, Parbhani and Sangli seats, to name a few, in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, which ultimately helped the NDA.
