State Congress president Vijay (Balasaheb) Thorat and his NCP counterpart, Jayant Patil had jointly written to Ambedkar inviting him for talks. (Source: File)CONGRESS’ HOPES of stitching a grand Opposition alliance for the Assembly polls got a boost on Wednesday, with Prakash Ambedkar of the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) reportedly indicating that he was willing to hold seat-sharing talks with the Congress and the NCP.
Finishing with an overall vote share of about 14 per cent in state Lok Sabha polls, the VBA — an alliance of AIMIM and Ambedkar’s Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh — had played a decisive role in the victories of Shiv Sena-BJP candidates in at least seven seats.
Facing an uphill task to reversing the electoral trend, the state Congress and ally NCP had invited Ambedkar to initiate seat-sharing talks for the state polls. State Congress president Vijay (Balasaheb) Thorat and his NCP counterpart, Jayant Patil had jointly written to Ambedkar inviting him for talks.
After taking an initial position that he was interested in holding talks only with the party’s central leadership, sources said Ambedkar has now responded positively to the invitation, indicating that he was willing to participate in seat-sharing discussions. In a letter, he has reportedly sought the finalisation of the talks as early as possible, and demanded that the Congress and NCP should be willing to walk the extra mile to accommodate other parties.
Following the response, Thorat said: “We will hold talks with Ambedkar.” He added that his party remains hopeful of bringing all like-minded parties together.
