Emboldened by the response of voters in the last Lok Sabha election, the VBA and AIMIM have decided to continue with their alliance for the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections too.
The alliance bagged 41.13 lakh votes across the state in the LS elections even as one AIMIM candidate, Imtiaz Jaleel, emerged victorious and made his way to Parliament.
The leaders of both the parties confirmed that they will contest all the 288 assembly seats together after striking a deal on sharing of seats.
Speaking to Media from Delhi, VBA chief Prakash Ambedkar quashed speculation over the alliance and confirmed that it is very much in place. “The alliance with the AIMIM is on for the assembly elections. There is no problem over seat sharing and we hope to arrive at a consensus on the seats soon.”
The alliance decision was taken at a closed-door meeting between AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, Aurangabad MP Jaleel (AIMIM), party leader Gaffar Qadri and Ambedkar at Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi.
Jaleel said, “It was our first round of meeting to discuss the assembly election alliance and the VBA-AIMIM will be contesting the upcoming assembly elections together under the leadership of Prakash Ambedkar.”
Jaleel added that the next round of meeting has been scheduled for the upcoming week.
Earlier, there were reports of discontent after Ambedkar lost both the seats (Akola & Solapur) in the recently concluded general elections. He even blamed Muslim voters for continuing to support the Congress.
The voting pattern in the LS polls was also criticised by the MIM leadership, which blamed a section of the scholar for diverting Muslim votes towards Congress in the parliamentary seats of Solapur and Akola during the elections.
Despite these differences cropping up between the alliance partners, some leaders on both sides were hopeful of the alliance’s continuation.
“First, they learnt through public statements that Ambedkar would be going it alone in the assembly elections and contesting all the 288 seats. This was followed by senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan stating during his visit to Nashik that his party was open to alliance with VBA and senior Congress leaders appointed for this purpose were trying for it,” said a senior politician.
Chavan has blamed the VBA for causing Congress candidates’ loss in nine seats in Maharashtra during the general elections and also said the Ambedkar-led party helped BJP improve its tally in the state.
AIMIM-VBA alliance for upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections
