Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi president Prakash Ambedkar will not attend the Maha Vikas Aghadi meeting to be held in Trident Hotel in Mumbai today (January 30), party’s state Vice President Dhairyavardhan Pundkar will take part in the meet instead, sources said. The Opposition had sent an invitation to Ambedkar to attend the meeting to discuss seat-sharing formula in Maharashtra for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The meeting will be held at 2 pm in Mumbai where discussions will be held on seat-sharing in MVA and inclusion of Prakash Ambedkar’s party VBA in the alliance.
VBA invited to the meeting
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut earlier said that the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi led by Prakash Ambedkar has been invited for a meeting of MVA.
Earlier this month, Ambedkar appealed to the Shiv Sena (UBT) to ally with the VBA for the Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra if the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) members fail to finalise a seat-sharing formula.
MVA seat-sharing
Ambedkar then said the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) and the VBA can contest 24 seats each (out of the total 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state) in the upcoming general polls.
NCP president Sharad Pawar earlier this month said the MVA, comprising the Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP and Congress, is talking to the Left parties and Prakash Ambedkar’s VBA to stitch up an alliance for the upcoming polls.
Asked about VBA's alliance with the Maha Vikas Aghadi, Raut on Monday said the MVA constituents will have a final meeting in Mumbai on Tuesday and all other parties have been invited.
The MVA on January 25 invited the Prakash Ambedkar-led party to be a part of the opposition alliance in Maharashtra and join it for a discussion on seat-sharing.
A letter signed by Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole, Jayant Patil of the NCP’s Sharad Pawar faction and Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut was sent to Ambedkar, requesting him to depute senior leaders from the VBA to join the seat-sharing talks.
