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In a bid to boost his fortunes ahead of the Mumbai civic polls, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday announced that his Shiv Sena (UBT) will form an alliance with Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), NDTV reported.
“Today is 23rd January, the birth anniversary of Balasaheb Thackeray. I am satisfied and happy that several people of Maharashtra wanted us to come together. Prakash Ambedkar and I am here today to form an alliance,” Thackeray said.
He said the Thackerays and Ambedkars “have a history”.
“My grandfather and Prakash Ambedkar’s grandfather were colleagues and they fought against the social issues at that time. Thackeray and Ambedkar have a history. Now their future generations are here to fight on the current issues of the country,” he added.
The announcement is likely to come as boost to Shiv Sena and Thackeray, who had t resign as the state’s chief minister after a split in his party in June last year. The faction led by Eknath Shinde later joined hands with the BJP and he became the chief minister. Both the factions had then accused each other of betraying the legacy of Balasaheb Thackeray.
Uddhav Thackeray and Prakash Ambedkar, the grandson of the architect of the Indian Constitution Bhim Rao Ambedkar, had been in talks to forge an alliance for over two months.
Prakash Ambedkar said the alliance marks the “beginning of a new politics” in the country. “We have been organising protests on social issues. Whether we win on social issues or not is in the hands of voters, but giving such people a seat to contest is in the hands of political parties,” he said.
He said he hopes that NCP chief Sharad Pawar will also join them but added that the Congress, the third constituent of the MVA in Maharashtra, hasn’t accepted the alliance yet.
Prakash Ambedkar and the Congress party had tried to form an alliance before the 2019 election but the talks failed over sharing of seats.
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