VBA rules out alliance with Congress, NCP

Mumbai: Accusing the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) of running a smear campaign against his party, Prakash Ambedkar on Monday stated that the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) would not ally itself with them as they had termed his organisation the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) B-team.

The former MP said, “Why should we ally ourselves with those who abuse us every day?”

The Congress and NCP have been trying to assemble like-minded secular parties against the saffron alliance ahead of the Assembly election, which is likely to be held in the next two months.

According to the VBA, Congress state president Balasaheb Thorat had last month penned letters twice, inviting its leaders to alliance talks.

Mr Ambedkar, however, asked the Congress earlier this month to elaborate on its allegation that the VBA was the B-team of the BJP.  The VBA leader had stated that he was in favour of an alliance but the Congress must clarify its stance about his party.

“The VBA, however, did not receive any clarification from Opposition parties about the allegation,” Mr Ambedkar said.

The VBA was formed after the coming together of Mr Ambedkar’s Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh (BBM) and Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) ahead of the Lok Sabha election. The VBA had contested all 48 of the state’s parliamentary seats, damaging the chances of the Congress and NCP in 10 seats where they polled over a lakh votes.

The VBA, which claims that it is against the BJP and Shiv Sena, is planning to contest all 288 Assembly seats.