Mumbai, Dec 27 (IANS): The Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), led by Prakash Ambedkar, on Tuesday demanded 12 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra from the INDIA bloc "if the Opposition seriously wants to defeat" the Bharatiya Janata Party led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Unveiling a seat-sharing formula, state VBA President Rekha Thakur said the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) of the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party-SP, the Shiv Sena-UBT, besides the VBA, should contest 12 seats each in Maharashtra to dislodge the BJP.
The statement was issued after the VBA state executive meeting held here – just two days ahead of the Congress’ ‘Hai Taiyaar Hum’ mega-rally planned in Nagpur on its 138th foundation day celebrations to kickstart the campaign for parliament elections.
Detailing the formula, Thakur, and her colleagues Siddharth Mokle, Farooq Ahmed, and Priyadarshi Telang said that in the present political circumstances, no party in the country, including the Congress, can independently capture power or elect a PM on its own.
Even in Maharashtra, the MVA is not an option as two constituents – the Shiv Sena-UBT and NCP-SP – have been weakened by the vertical splits they suffered in 2022 and 2023 respectively, and the Congress could get only one MP elected in 2019 parliament polls.
However, the last Lok Sabha elections proved that the VBA not only has a vote-bank but its base has increased significantly among the underprivileged section in the past five years, they said.
"Our clear agenda is to defeat Modi in the 2024 election. There is no need for the MVA to be overconfident in the current situation. The BJP is threatening the Opposition parties with central investigation agencies and to put them in jail for even minor mistakes," said Ahmed.
Mokle said that the BJP is dividing the society and attempting to undermine the Constitution which could affect the security of the underprivileged classes, deprived sections, tribals, Muslims and other minorities, etc., and its time to take the right decisions now.
He said that of the 12 seats in its share, the VBA will put up 3 Muslim candidates, plus give representation to other underprivileged groups like OBCs and nomadic tribes, which is not done by other parties, but if there is no decision, then the VBA would consider other options.
The VBA missive came even as the INDIA bloc has indicated that the seat-sharing formula is likely to be finalised in a week, and the MVA will do likewise in early-January 2024.