Miffed by the delay in the finalising the seat-adjustments by the Opposition  Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) chief Prakash Ambedkar on Monday asked his party’s ally Shiv Sena (UBT) to “come clean” on the electoral understanding it had reached with two other MVA partners –Congress and NCP (Sharad Pawar).

Fearing that his party might be short-changed in the “seat-sharing” pact for 48 Lok Sabha seats to be arrived at among three MVA constituents in Maharashtra, Ambedkar sought to know Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray as to what kind of seat-sharing arrangement was being reached among the three MVA partners –Sena (UBT), Congress and NCP ( SP).

As per the understanding reached among the MVA partners, the VBA will be allotted a seat or two from the Shiv Sena (UBT) quota. 

Within hours after Sena spokesperson and MP Sanjay Raut went to town

saying that the VBA could contest the Akola LS seat and none of the MVA allies would object to it,  Ambedkar upped the ante on the lack of clarity in the seat-sharing formula being worked out among the MVA partners.

Joining issue with Raut, Ambedkar wanted to know as to why the SS-UBT kept harping only on the Akola seat when he could contest any seat in the state. The VBA chief, it may be recalled,  was elected twice from Akola and later served a term in Rajya Sabha.

“Why are you talking about only Akola?... Let anybody contest it, I can stand for election from Mumbai, or Pune, or even from Badayuni (Badaun) in Uttar Pradesh… Nobody can stop me… But first you spell out to us what agreement has been reached with the Congress and NCP (SP)?,” Ambedkar asked.

Ambedkar — who had threatened to contest all the 48 seats in the state if VBA’s claims were ignored in the seat-sharing talks — said, “Our understanding with the Sena (UBT) is clear… If the Congress-NCP (SP) do not respond, then VBA and Shiv Sena (UBT) will each contest 24 seats each in Maharashtra”.

On their part,  the Congress and NCP (SP) have chosen not to respond to the repeated outbursts by Ambekar. Their stand is clear that it is for the Sena (UBT) to deal with its ally –VBA.