Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) chief Prakash Ambedkar on Tuesday warned the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) that if did not finalise its seat-sharing pact for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls at the earliest, his party would have no alternative but to announce its candidates for all the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra.
Talking to media persons here, Ambedkar – whose party entered into an *electoral pact with the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena eleven months ago – said: “Our party has an electoral tie-up with the Shiv Sena (UBT) which is part of the Opposition MVA. Since the seat adjustments have not been finalised yet among the MVA constituents, we have not yet started seat-sharing talks with the Shiv Sena (UBT)”
“The ball is now in the Shiv Sena (UBT)’s court. If the Sena (UBT) does not take a decision on seat-sharing for the Lok Sabha polls in the immediate future, VBA will have no alternative but to field candidates in all the 28 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state,” the VBA chief said.
Ambedkar’s warning to the MVA is being seen more as a strategy to mount pressure on the MVA leaders to finalise the seat-sharing pack among them at the earliest.
On his part, Ambedkar has already announced that he would contest from Akola Lok Sabha cionstituency -- from where he had contested the polls on ten occasions and won twice in the past.
Ambedkar -- who is the grandson of late B R Ambedkar – said that Parliamentary democracy was in peril in the country and called upon all such parties opposing the ruling BJP-RSS must join hands to save democracy in the country.
“All those who are fighting the BJP and the RSS should unite and contest the 2024 Lok Sabha election under one roof,”Ambedkar said.
Ambedkar said that parliamentary democracy was vital for the country as it had empowered the common masses of the country and gave equal representation to people from all walks of life.
“Preserving parliamentary democracy is important as it gives representation to people from all walks of life. If democracy survives, political parties will survive too and only then will the power of the people remain,” Ambedkar said.
Ambedkar warned that in the event of the parliamentary system getting replaced with a presidential form of government, then power will go to the hands of a limited few people from the upper castes.