Prakash Ambedkar issues ultimatum to Cong over alliance, decide by Aug 31

Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) chief Prakash Ambedkar on Tuesday served an ultimatum to the Congress asking it to respond to its seat-sharing proposal by August 31. In a bid to woo the sizeable Other Backward Classes (OBCs) vote bank of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the VBA chief announced that if voted to power, he would sanction reservation in job promotions to (OBCs).

In an apparent bid to woo the OBC community in the assembly election, the Dalit leader disclosed that the VBA has included the issue of giving reservation in promotion for OBCs in its poll manifesto. “A committee would be formed to remove the OBC’s creamy layer. An independent budget will be earmarked for the education. After coming to power, like ST and SC, we will also give scholarship to OBC students and will link scholarship with inflation rates,” Ambedkar said.

The Dalit leader said the VBA has proposed to give 144 seats to the Congress and that there were now they waiting for a reply from the party. “I will clarify my stand over the alliance by August 31, he said. Last week, the VBA had offered 144 seats to the Congress and the latter has not responded to the offer as yet. In July, the VBA had offered Congress a mere 40 seats. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the VBA had damaged the prospects of Congress and NCP.

Ambedkar claimed the BJP and Shiv Sena threatening leaders of the Opposition in a bid to break them away from the Opposition parties. He said that this is an attempt to eliminate the opposition parties. He said, “The ruling party wanted to completely eliminate the opposition. Those sitting in constitutional posts are only pawns. Its master is RSS.”

The Dalit leader also claimed that the ruling party is not only targeting the opposition parties but also the opponents in the ruling party. “The state BJP President is a good example of this. Shiv Sena party chief Uddhav Thackeray is also on the target,” he claimed. Over the alliance with AIMIM, he said that the alliance with the Asaduddin Owaisi led party would continue in the Assembly election.