Only Owaisi, I can decide on ties: Prakash Ambedkar

Mumbai: While All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) Maharashtra president Imtiaz Jaleel announced on Friday that his party would part ways with the Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) due to differences over seat-sharing, Mr Ambedkar on Sunday said that the decision to continue or break the alliance will taken either by him or AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi.

“The decision whether to continue the alliance or not will be taken by me and him (Owaisi). Until then, our alliance continues. No one else can take a decision other than the both of us,” Mr Ambedkar said.   

Speaking in Nagpur, the Dalit leader said that his party’s alliance is with the AIMIM chief and not with its Maharashtra unit leaders.

With just weeks remaining for the Assembly election, the cordial relation between Bharip Bahuj Mahasangh (BBM) and AIMIM seems to be taking a hit.

Meanwhile, local media reports quoted Mr Jaleel as clarifying that the decision to break the alliance with the VBA was taken as per the instruction of Mr Owaisi.

“We had given a proposal to the VBA but did not get respectable number of seats. Therefore, we have decided to part away from alliance,” the AIMIM Maharashtra president said.   

Sources said that the AIMIM had demanded close to 100 seats from Ambedkar. However, his party conveyed that it could only allot eight out of the 288 seats to AIMIM.

The Asian Age tried contacting Mr Jaleel and Mr Owaisi but they were not available for any comment. AIMIM MLA Waris Pathan, on the other hand, refused to comment on the issue.

The VBA, an alliance between the BBM and AIMIM, had damaged the prospects of Congress-NCP alliance on at least eight seats in the Lok Sabha election.