Prakash Ambedkar reiterates his interest to join MVA and I-N-D-I-A alliance, demands 12 seats in Maharashtra

Prakash Ambedkar. Pic/X@VBAforIndia

In yet another letter to the MVA (Maha Vikas Aghadi) leaders, former Lok Sabha MP Prakash Ambedkar, the grandson of Dr BR Ambedkar, reiterated his interest in joining the MVA and I-N-D-I-A alliance ahead of the Lok Sabha elections 2024, reported news agency ANI.

Amid the tussle over seat sharing in Maharashtra, VBA (Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi) President Prakash Ambedkar in his letter to the Mallikarjun Kharge, Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray, stressed the need to adopt his proposed formula of 12 seats to each parties, reported ANI.

He termed the "12+12+12+12 formula" as a 'conflict-free' plan to decide on the number of seat sharing in the state, reported ANI.

"Recognising the importance of the 48 seats in unseating Modi in 2024 and taking in consideration the indecisiveness regarding seat-sharing within I-N-D-I-A in important states like Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Bihar, Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi's (VBA) Maharashtra State Committee proposed a practical and "conflict-free" formula of 12 + 12 + 12 + 12 on Tuesday," the letter said.

Emphasising that 'Defeating Modi should be the only priority for MVA', Prakash Ambedkar in his letter mentioned that "it is the VBA's desire that the parties within the MVA- Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray), Nationalist Congress Party, Indian National Congress and VBA should fight the upcoming Lok Sabha elections together and on an equal number of seats as equal partners."

"I sincerely hope that both deliberation and decision is taken in the interest of the people of Maharashtra and with a sole and singular priority that Modi is defeated," the letter added, reported ANI.

Earlier, in a letter to Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge, the VBA had expressed its interest to join the Opposition bloc -- Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) -- if invited, reported ANI.

Meanwhile, amid debate and discussion in the MVA over seat sharing between parties of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), the Shiv Sena (UBT) has demanded 23 seats out of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra.

However, the Congress party in a reply to the demand of Shiv Sena (UBT) said that seat sharing is a complicated subject and the decision can't be taken easily, reported ANI.

"If all parties in the I-N-D-I-A block need to fight together and defeat the BJP, then we need to stop infighting. From the newspaper, I got to know that Shiv Sena has demanded 23 seats, which is a lot," said Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam.

(With inputs from ANI)