Mumbai: Even as Prakash Ambedkar, convener of the Vanchit Bahujan DalitsAghadi (VBA) has claimed that all Dalits and Muslims were with the VBA and had voted against the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) candidates in the first three phases of the Lok Sabha elections, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) President Ashok Chavan claimed the effect of the VBA has not been seen in any constituency.
He alleged that the VBA is supported by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Ambedkar’s aim was to defeat the Congress-NCP and help the BJP candidates win.
Speaking to select media at Tilak Bhavan on Wednesday, Chavan claimed, the Congress-NCP alliance would win at least 20 seats in the state and that would be enough to change the regime in the state after assembly polls. “NCP chief Sharad Pawar had told me that uUnion minister Nitin Gadkari’s seat is in danger, he was going to lose the LS election. When a leader like Pawar predicts something, it has meaning,” said Chavan.
The BJP tried to trap Chavan on his turf – Nanded, in the run-up to the election, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other party leaders addressing rallies here. Chavan said, “The BJP and the Ambedkar-led VBA tried to trap me in my constituency.
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But it will not affect me, I will win.” He added that after the second phase of polls, he held rallies for party candidates in other constituencies. “Till date, I have addressed rallies in 16 constituencies,” he claimed. Chavan also said the party president Rahul Gandhi had taken serious not of Vikhe-Patil’s inactiveness and he would face disciplinary action after the Lok Sabha polls.
“The Abdul Sattar and Vikhe-Patil cases are different. Sattar was a party legislator and that is why, being state president of the party, I could act against him. Vikhe-Patil is the leader of the opposition and only the party president can take the final call,” he said. “Dr Sujay Vikhe-Patil had refused a ticket from the NCP. But, his father could have worked for the party candidate, but he didn’t,” observed Chavan.