Dhairyavardhan Pundkar from Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi and Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal jointly attend a press conference announcing their alliance for BMC elections, at Tilak Bhavan, Dadar in Mumbai. (Express photo by Sankhadeep Banerjee)
After days of discussions and disagreements, the Congress and the Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi announced on Sunday that they would fight the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections together.
“Both parties are natural allies with a common agenda of safeguarding constitutional values. The Congress and the VBA, in its earlier form of Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh, had fought elections together before 1999, and the results were that they won the majority of Lok Sabha seats. That tradition was discontinued in the meantime. I am happy to announce that we both have decided to fight the Mumbai elections as an alliance,” Maharashtra Congress chief Harshavardhan Sapkal said at a joint press conference held at the state party headquarters.
As per the understanding between the parties, the VBA will contest 62 out of the 227 seats in Mumbai. The Congress is also stitching up an alliance with the Left parties in certain pockets of the city.
However, Mumbai Congress chief and MP Varsha Gaikwad and Ambedkar were not present at the press conference due to prior commitments.
The two parties contested the recent municipal council and municipal panchayat elections together in some districts of Maharashtra. The Congress hopes to consolidate its Dalit vote bank with an alliance with the VBA across the state. In addition, the aggressive ground-level workers of VBA could also be a boost for the Congress. On the other hand, the VBA, which has zero electoral presence in municipal corporations, aims to enter urban local bodies.
VBA vice-president Dhairyavardhan Pundkar said the alliance would be beneficial to both parties. “Had two of us formed the alliance earlier, the BJP could not have made the inroads in Maharashtra. But it is better that we have decided to join hands now,” he said.
VBA spokesperson Siddharth Mokale said the party had given its local units the authority to finalise alliances at their level.
When asked about Prakash Ambedkar’s stinging criticism of Congress a few days ago, he said the argument was ideological and not personal. “The issue is now over,” he said.