The Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) said here on Monday that it is in an alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) for the crucial Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections scheduled for February 2022.
Talking to media persons here, VBA’s founder president and late B R Ambedkar’s grandson Prakash Ambedkar said: “We have decided to have an electoral tie-up with the RJD and ICML for the BMC polls.
“We have decided to forge an alliance with the RJD and IUML. We are expecting some more parties to join us. It’s after that will we announce the seat-sharing pact among its alliance partners for the BMC polls,” Prakash said.
Prakash said that he expected that more political parties would join the VBA-led front by January 15.
The NB-led front will contest an unspecified nuber of seats in the Sion, Kurla, Dharavi, Chembur, Govandi, Borivali, Kandivali, Dadar, Jogeshwari and Matunga.
Being seen as a third front to take on the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) adn Opposition BJP in the BMC elections, the VBA-led front expects to firm up its alliances with other parties in March this year.
Currently, there are two major political fronts - the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi comprising Shiv Sena, NCP and the Congress. The Opposition BJP may tie-up with the likelihood of Raj Thackeray’s NCP for the BMC polls.
The new allies – RJD led by former union minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and IUML led by K. M. K. Mohideen – are major regional political players with a token national presence.
The IUML, a force in Kerala and Tamil Nadu had 4 MPs, while the RJD has no opposition party in the country. Incidentally, the VBA had forged an alliance with the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen, led by Asasuddin Owaisi during the April-May, 2019 Lok Sabha elections.