Cracks appear to have surfaced in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in Maharashtra even as Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) chief Prakash Ambedkar has alleged that NCP chief Sharad Pawar was siding with the BJP.
While the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has slammed Ambedkar’s statement, the Congress said VBA was in alliance with the Shiv Sena (UBT) and not with the MVA. Sena (UBT), on the other hand, said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had approved its alliance with the VBA.
“I have spoken to Rahul Gandhi about our alliance with Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi. He is okay with the VBA joining Maha Vikas Aghadi,” Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Sanjay Raut told The Indian Express Friday.
Raut had met Rahul Gandhi during the Jammu leg of the latter’s Bharat Jodo Yatra. “I have a very good rapport with Rahul and that is why I went to Jammu after missing out on it earlier.”
Raut’s reaction came in the wake of statements by Ambedkar and Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) chief Nana Patole. “The VBA was not part of MVA but was in alliance with Shiv Sena (UBT). We have not received any proposal for inclusion of VBA in MVA,” Patole told reporters in Mumbai Thursday.
Disagreeing with Ambedkar’s allegation, Raut said, “The Shiv Sena does not agree with Ambedkar’s statement about the NCP chief. In MVA, everyone should adopt restraint while commenting about its own members.”
“No one should make such a statement at a time when the NCP chief played a key role in setting up the third front to take on the BJP. He is the pillar of the third front,” Raut added.
Speaking to a TV news channel, Ambedkar recently said, “Even today, Sharad Pawar is with the BJP. Three-four days after the swearing-in of Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar as chief minister and deputy chief minister in 2019, in an interview published in a newspaper, Ajit Pawar was quoted saying that he did not understand why people were blaming him. He said this was decided by our party. I was the first to go… This was decided before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.”
Reacting to the statement, NCP spokesperson Mahesh Tapase said, “The Shiv Sena which has struck an alliance with the VBA should see it to that no such statements are made about MVA leaders by parties which are their partners. We will not approve of any such statement made against our leader. We hope Shiv Sena will take up the issue with all seriousness with the VBA.”
