MVA wary of Ambedkar as his party continues to press ‘unreasonable’ demands
Mumbai: A day after Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) proposed to field Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil in Lok Sabha election as the joint candidate of the alliance, a delegation of the Congress leaders and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Thursday met NCP founder Sharad Pawar and urged the veteran Maratha leader to speak to Prakash Ambedkar.
The VBA has proposed common candidates in Pune and Jalna Lok Sabha seats, but the Congress and Shiv Sena UBT want to field their candidates. The final talks between the MVA and the VBA are likely to be held in the first week of March.
Amid this, Jarange-Patil has also said that he has no interest in contesting elections.
Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole, Congress legislative party leader Balasaheb Thorat and Sanjay Raut have held a meeting over the demands of the VAB and seat sharing formula at the NCP founder’s residence ‘Silver Oak’ in south Mumbai for around an hour.
“It has been decided that Mr. Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray will be meeting the VBA chief in a final round of talks,” a source said.
Another senior MVA leader, requesting anonymity, said that Mr. Pawar and Mr. Thackeray are likely to meet Mr. Ambedkar on March 5 or 6 to finalise the seat sharing.
An insider in the MVA said that the VBA is giving impractical proposals to the MVA leaders. “It appears that the VBA does not want to join us by giving such excuses. However, we are making every effort to bring them into our alliance,” he said.
