Prakash Ambedkar joins MVA seat-sharing talks ahead of Lok Sabha polls

Mumbai: Prakash Ambedkar, the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) president and grandson of Dr B R Ambedkar, on Friday joined the seat-sharing talks of the opposition bloc MVA for the Lok Sabha elections.

Sanjay Raut of Shiv Sena (UBT), which is a constituent of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), shared a photograph of the Dalit leader being welcomed at the meeting here.

Besides the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena (UBT), Congress and the NCP faction under party founder Sharad Pawar are partners in the MVA.

The allies are likely to finalize a broad seat-sharing deal, with 10 to 12 seats pending to be discussed, according to MVA leaders.

Maharashtra has 48 Lok Sabha seats, the second highest in the country after Uttar Pradesh’s 80.

Raut posted on X, “With VBA joining the MVA, the fight to protect the Constitution of India becomes stronger. We will fight against mobocracy.” NCP’s Jayant Patil and Jitendra Awhad, Congress leaders Nana Patole, Ashok Chavan, Balasaheb Thorat and Varsha Gaikwad and Sena (UBT)’s Raut are part of the seat-sharing talks committee.

मा.बाळासाहेब आंबेडकर यांचे आज महाराष्ट्र विकास आघाडी बैठकीत स्वागत करण्यात आले.

वंचीत बहुजन आघाडी मुळे संविधान रक्षणाच्या लढ्यास बळ प्राप्त होईल.देशातील झुंड शाही विरोधात आम्ही एकत्र लढू! हा निर्धार पक्का!@AUThackeray @BJP4Maharashtra @Dev_Fadnavis @supriya_sule… pic.twitter.com/surFhhhpJb

— Sanjay Raut (@rautsanjay61) February 2, 2024

In the 2019 general elections, the BJP had won in 23 constituencies, followed by the undivided Shiv Sena, which bagged 18 seats. While the NCP, which split last year, had got four seats, one seat each went to the Congress, AIMIM and an Independent candidate.