Maharashtra: ‘Ambedkar willing to hold seat-sharing talks with Congress, NCP’
CONGRESS’ HOPES of stitching a grand Opposition alliance for the Assembly polls got a boost on Wednesday, with Prakash Ambedkar of the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) reportedly indicating that he was willing to hold seat-sharing talks with the Congress and the NCP.
Finishing with an overall vote share of about 14 per cent in state Lok Sabha polls, the VBA — an alliance of AIMIM and Ambedkar’s Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh — had played a decisive role in the victories of Shiv Sena-BJP candidates in at least seven seats.
Facing an uphill task to reversing the electoral trend, the state Congress and ally NCP had invited Ambedkar to initiate seat-sharing talks for the state polls. State Congress president Vijay (Balasaheb) Thorat and his NCP counterpart, Jayant Patil had jointly written to Ambedkar inviting him for talks.