Having called off his seat-adjustments talks with the Congress, Bharipa Bahujan Mahsangh (BBM) president Prakash Ambedkar on Tuesday announced that his party would contest all the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra.
Talking to mediapersons at Akola in eastern Maharashtra, Ambedkar said that there was no point to continuing to hold negotiations with the Congress as the talks would not result in any outcome.
“The Congress has been telling us that we must fight the Lok Sabha polls as an alliance. I told them they have already named 22 candidates. They did not want to give us any representation. We have decided to field candidates from all 48 constituencies in the State,” Ambedkar said.
Ambedkar, who is the grandson of late BR Ambedkar, has tied up with Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM. Together, the BBM and AIMIM have launched “Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi”, which has several Dalit, tribal, Muslim, Dhangar, Koli and Agri community leaders as members.
During his talks with the Congress-NCP alliance, Ambedkar had staked claim for 12 seats. However, the Congress-NCP alliance had committed agreed to give four seats.
Ambedkar himself is planning to contest from veteran Congress leader Sushil Kumar Shinde’s home constituency of Solapur, from where the latter is re-contesting the Lok Sabha polls.