Mumbai: Prakash Ambedkar, leader of Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) has set deadline of August end for formalising the alliance. He also demanded clarification from Congress which labelled his VBA as B-Team of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). His stand clearly hints that he is in no mood to ally with Congress and Nationalist Congress Party.
“We sought an explanation with kind request for the latest perception of Congress about VBA as of today and why they termed VBA as B-Team of BJP. What proofs do they have?,” said Ambedkar.
Congress president Balasaheb Thorat had sent a letter to Ambedkar requesting him to have alliance with Congress and NCP. When asked whether he is open for the alliance with Congress and NCP, Ambedkar claimed he was ready for alliance provided Congress clarified to his demand.
VBA has also decided to wait till August end for clarification and alliance finalisation from Congress.
“We will announce our first list at the month end. This list will have 22 smaller caste candidates from Other Backward Classes. Then it will be difficult to withdraw them and it will almost close door for alliance from our side,” he added.
Will field 288 candidates
He said if the alliance did not materialise with Congress and NCP, VBA is ready to field candidates in all 288 seats. “We have completed interviews of 1,100 candidates in nearly half of Maharashtra. We will soon complete this process. The social engineering will give priority for selecting candidates,” he said.
Reacting to the BJP’s spree of recruiting leaders from other parties, he said this was unethical.
“The legislators from other parties have approached us to join. But we refused to grant them entry. We did not approve such politics,” he said while criticising the BJP.
