Prakash Ambedkar accuses Sanjay Raut of stabbing VBA in the back

Prakash Ambedkar

Prakash Ambedkar of Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi on Thursday accused Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut of stabbing him and his outfit in the back after the seat-sharing talks with the Maha Vikas Aghadi failed without any agreement between the two sides. Ambedkar was in talks with the MVA, which comprises the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party (SP) and the Shiv Sena (UBT), for the Lok Sabha polls but recently announced candidates on several seats.

Twitter war breaks out

In a post on social media platform X, Ambedkar said, "How many lies Sanjay (Raut) is going to spread? If our thoughts are same, then why were we not invited to the MVA meetings? Why have you been holding meetings without inviting any representative of the VBA?" "Despite being a political ally, you have stabbed us in our back. We know what kind of discussions you had held at the silver oak (the residence of opposition stalwart Sharad Pawar), you had even proposed building a candidate against Prakash Ambedkar in Akola Lok Sabha constituency," he further said on X. Raut was talking about an alliance but "on the other hand you conspire against us", Ambedkar alleged in his social media post.

Battlelines drawn

Ambedkar will fight from Akola, though VBA has said it will support the MVA in Nagpur, where the Congress' Vikas Thakre is up against BJP heavyweight and Union minister Nitin Gadkari.

Maharashtra Cong forms 4 committees

>> The Congress in Maharashtra on Thursday set up four committees tasked with handling various matters related to the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, and one of them will be headed by party veteran and former chief minister Sushilkumar Shinde.

>> The Shinde, also a former Union minister, will head the 31-member coordination committee of the Congress in the state, the opposition party said here.

>> The publicity and publication committee will be headed by Congress group leader in the Legislative Council Satej Patil and it will have 23 members.

>> The election management committee, having 26 members, will be led by Nana Gawande, state Congress general secretary (organisation), said the party.

>> The 18-strong media and communication panel will be headed by state party spokesperson Atul Londhe.

>> The Congress is a constituent of the state-level opposition bloc Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).

>> The Maharashtra, which has 48 Lok Sabha seats, the second highest after Uttar Pradesh (80), will vote in five phases starting from April 19.