Ambedkar has shown no interest in alliance, says Ajit Pawar at event in Pune
Congress-NCP has offered four seats to Ambedkar-led smaller parties. I don’t know what is going on Ambedkar’s mind said
In a bid to woo the Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), to form an alliance, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) offered the party four Lok Sabha seats in the state. However, Congress-NCP leaders feel that Prakash Ambedkar is not too keen to form an alliance.
Speaking to media persons in Pune, on Sunday, Ajit Pawar, NCP leader said that the Congress-NCP has offered four seats to Ambedkar-led smaller parties, but the Dalit leader has not shown any interest. “I don’t know what is going on Ambedkar’s mind. The Congress-NCP offered him four seats despite the fact that he doesn’t have single seat,” said Ajit Pawar.
Despite the Congress-NCP offering four seats, Ambedkar has shown no interest in forging an alliance with them instead he has gone ahead announcing candidates for various other constituencies.So far, he has announced 12 candidates from western Maharashtra and Marathwada.
Earlier, Prithviraj Chavan, senior Congress leader and former chief minister had said that Ambedkar is not serious about the alliance. While speaking in Pune on February 23, Chavan said, “In our attempts to prevent any division of votes by fielding one candidate against the Bharatiya Janata Party led alliance, we have approached Ambedkar multiple times to form an alliance, but it seems he has different game plan.”
Initially, Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi , that consists of Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh, Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and other smaller outfits, had asked for 12 seats, which the Congress-NCP refused to give.