No proposal for ties with Prakash Ambedkar’s VBA, says NCP cheif Sharad Pawar

Sharad Pawar, the chief of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), said on Saturday that there has been no proposal for an alliance with Prakash Ambedkar's Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA). "As there is no proposal for an alliance before us, we would not like to discuss it," Pawar told reporters in Kolhapur, Maharashtra.

Pawar’s comments come in the wake of the allegation by Prakash Ambedkar that he (Pawar) was still siding with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). NCP had advised Ambedkar to adopt restraint and avoid making statements against the partners of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).

Asked about the discussions that Shiv Sena (UBT) had with VBA and the announcement of an alliance between them, Pawar said, "We are not aware of what is going on between the two parties." Since we were not part of the discussions, we would not like to talk about it. And therefore, there cannot be any discussion about the distribution of seats."

Pawar said that Congress, NCP, and Shiv Sena have discussions regarding an alliance for elections. "We will face the elections in the future together," he said.

"We don't pay attention to what others are saying," Pawar said of Ambedkar's views on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's handling of investigation agencies. However, in our experience, investigative agencies are misused.

In an interview with ABP Majha, a Marathi news channel, Prakash Ambedkar on Friday said that PM Modi was not misusing the investigative agencies. "If I were the Prime Minister, I would have done the same thing to sustain myself," he said.

It was on Monday former Maharashtra chief minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray formally announced an electoral alliance with VBA. Thackeray, whose Sena faction is a constituent of the MVA along with the Congress and NCP, had said his two allies had no problem with Ambedkar joining hands with them.