No alliance with Congress, says Prakash Ambedkar

Ambedkar accused the Congress leadership of not responding to his constant pleas for alliance. “Our VBA leaders were in touch with the Central Congress leadership, but the response was lacklustre.

The Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi (VBA) has finally announced that it will not ally with the Congress in the forthcoming Maharashtra Assembly polls. On the other hand, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) has made it clear that it will not ally with the VBA, despite Ambedkar’s assertion that the alliance was still in place.

The Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi (VBA) has finally announced that it will not ally with the Congress in the forthcoming Maharashtra Assembly polls. (Photo by Sanket Wankhade/HT PHOTO)

Ambedkar accused the Congress leadership of not responding to his constant pleas for alliance. “Our VBA leaders were in touch with the Central Congress leadership, but the response was lacklustre. The Congress wants to use the VBA for its vested interests, but we will not let that happen,” said Ambedkar.

“We are now firm that there will be no more talks and we will announce our first list of candidates next week,” he added.

The VBA had last month offered the Congress 144 of the total 288 seats in the state. However, it said the Congress should accommodate its ally Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) from its share of 144 seats. The Congress rejected the offer, saying it was not a serious one. Initially, the VBA had offered 40 seats to the Congress on the plea that its strength had depleted considerably.

However, the Congress said the VBA still needs to do a rethink on the alliance. “The Congress’ only aim was to forge a secular alliance with like-minded parties to defeat the communal BJP. We never used any outfit. However, the VBA has been imposing impossible demands which cannot be fulfilled,” rued Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant.

In case of AIMIM, Ambedkar accused state AIMIM chief Imtiyaz Jaleel, without naming him, of trying to sabotaging the alliance. “Both me and AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi are talking to each other. However, some state leaders are just issuing misleading statements to sabotage this alliance. We will fight the polls together,” said Ambedkar.

However, Jaleel had last week announced the end of its alliance with the VBA on the issue of allotment of seats. “Ambedkar is misleading everyone. Our chief has still not received a single communication from him. From our side, the alliance is as good as over,” said Jaleel.

He blamed Ambedkar for his failure to give respectable seats to AIMIM. “We were ready for even 24 seats, but he was adamant with just eight, which was not acceptable to us,” he said.

In the Lok Sabha polls the VBA tied up with the AIMIM and was able to poll 41.08 lakh votes in the state thus bringing its tally to 7.63 % of the total votes polled in the state.

The VBA was able to ensure the defeat of the Congress-NCP in a couple of constituencies. Hence, both referred to the VBA as the B team of the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance as it ensured the win of the alliance in various seats.