Mumbai, March 12 : Bharipa Bahujan Mahsangh (BBM) President Prakash Ambedkar on Tuesday called off seat-sharing talks with Congress-Nationalist Congress Party alliance and announced that his party would contest Maharashtra’s 48 Lok Sabha seats along with Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM.
Addressing media persons at Akola, he said that there was “no point to continue negotiations with the Congress as there would be no positive result”.
“The Congress keeps telling us that we must fight the Lok Sabha polls as an alliance against the Bharatiya Janata Party. But they have already declared 22 candidates. They don’t want to give us any representation,” Ambedkar, the grandson of B.R. Ambedkar said.
Accordingly, the BBM-AIMIM has decided to put up candidates in all 48 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state, he said.
This was the second major upset for the Congress on Tuesday after Sujay Vikhe-Patil, son of its Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, joined the ruling BJP and may be fielded from the Vikhe-Patil bastion Ahmednagar.
Last year, the BBM and the AIMIM entered into a strategic political tie-up naming it as “Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi” (VBA) which has several Dalit, tribal, Muslim, Dhangar, Koli and Agri community leaders and groups as alliance members.
The VBA had demanded at least 12 seats from the Congress-NCP alliance which was prepared to part with only four seats.
A worrying factor for the Congress is Ambedkar himself planning to contest against Congress strongman and Dalit leader Sushil Kumar Shinde in his home constituency Solapur.
So far the Congress has not officially reacted to the BBM-AIMIM’s latest challenge which poses a severe test for the Opposition unity both in Lok Sabha and the Maharashtra Assembly elections due by October.(IANS)
Owaisi ji is a statesman. He withdrew and gave free hand to Prakash Ambedkar ji to go seek alliance understanding with Congress and the communalists Marathas of NCP, the sword arm of the Maratha Seva Sangh. Now it must be clear to Prakash Ambedkar ji that Congress NCP objection to Ambedkar’s alliance was eyewash. In fact they don’t want to see dalits and muslims leadership to emerge. They want muslims and dalits as tamed dogs tied at the door of these parties wagging tails to please their masters. Sooner dalits muslims and other minorities realize this, better it will be for them. Now quickly Vanchit bahujan aaghadi should field their candidates in UP and Bihar.
Modi should realise that dalits are like snakes. How much he may try to please them, they will continue to betray. Dalits can go to any extent to extract benefits, can even join anti-nationalists like Quawsi. Dalits will prove to be worse than Congress in betraying India…
RSS Manuwadi racists are the worst King Cobra snakes…IT cell paid bhakts…