Say you won’t tie up with BJP: VBA chief to NCP

NCP leader Jitendra Awhad. Pic/Shadab Khan

Prakash Ambedkar, whose Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), has kept the MVA waiting for a pre-poll alliance, has asked the NCP (Sharad Pawar) leader Jitendra Awhad whether his party would give a guarantee that it would not join the BJP after the polls. The statement has come in response to Awhad's appeal that the VBA chief should meet the like-minded parties at the earliest to consolidate their united fight to save the Constitution.

Awhad had written a letter to Ambedkar and posted it on social media. The VBA chief also took to social media. The exchange happened in the light of the delay in the MVA-VBA pact, which of late is appearing to be far-fetched. MVA and VBA representatives had some meetings in the past to thrash out a formula for the Lok Sabha seat-sharing, but no concrete solution has been found yet. Ambedkar has put forward some conditions while demanding a number of seats that MVA found unreasonable. He has suggested that Maratha activist Manoj Jarange Patil be fielded as an MVA candidate from Jalna.

Ambedkar's letter

"I understand that your letter is in an individual capacity and not as an NCP leader. However, I have always held that the individual and party's opinions should be the same. I'm personally sure that you will not have any agreement with the BJP, but I cannot say so about your party. Because, in the past, your party was in agreement (pact) with the BJP," wrote Ambedkar. "So, I'm with your personal responsibility to save the Constitution. But I have doubts whether your party will come forward to save the Constitution."

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Ambedkar said though Awhad's letter indicated otherwise, he was making all possible efforts to save the Constitution. "Your party representatives were present in a meeting in which the VBA said that we all will have to assure the voters that we will not go with the BJP and RSS after the elections. Your party representative said nothing. You said it should be given in writing, but the Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut rejected the suggestion," added Ambedkar.

Awhad's appeal

The NCP leader wrote to Ambedkar that though he was an NCP-Sharad Pawar's worker, he had some individual positions. "You are considered a progressive leader, who carries the legacy of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar forward. Your and our goal is to save the Constitution and democracy. I'm ready to pay any price for it. The next generation will not forgive us if the Constitution is touched," he had said, while urging the VBA national president to send out a positive message by meeting the like-minded parties as early as possible.

MVA to meet Ambedkar today

Prakash Ambedkar's conditional approach may not have elicited much response from the opposition bloc, but people in the know say that Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena-UBT), who met on Tuesday, would make a last-ditch effort to woo Ambedkar. The three leaders are expected to meet today. Congress senior Balasaheb Thorat is expected to join them.