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Lok Sabha Elections 2019: Is Raju Shetti going Prakash Ambedkar way?
Shetti said that if the alliance fails to act on his three-seat proposal, the farmers’ outfit will field candidates in 15 seats in state
With the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) not taking a call on the demand made by the Raju Shetti-led Swabhimani Paksha, to allow the famers’ party to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Hatkanangle, Wardha and Buldhana, Shetti appears to be in no mood to relent.
On Tuesday, Shetti, who has been exploring joining the Congress-NCP alliance, said that if the alliance fails to act on his three-seat proposal, the farmers’ outfit will field candidates in 15 seats in the state.
Shetti said, “Our demand of contesting on two seats other than Hatkanangle is reasonable. Despite talks with both parties going on for a very long time now, we have not arrived at a positive outcome. Therefore, we will wait for another day for the Congress-NCP to announce their decision, or else, we will declare our candidates for 15 constituencies and will fight the elections without an alliance.”
The Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi has announced that it will contest elections all 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra alone.
Ambedkar’s decision is a major jolt to the efforts of the Congress and the NCP to forge a ‘grand alliance’ against the BJP.
Shetti, now building pressure on the two parties, on Tuesday, also met Mahadev Jankar, founder of Rashtriya Samaj Paksha (RSP), a small ally of the NDA who is also unhappy with the BJP in the state.
Shetti said, “If he (Jankar) is willing to come with us to fight against the BJP, we will always welcome him.”
