Maha: Shiv Sena (UBT) and Prakash Ambedkar's VBA announce alliance
inheritors of two legacies uniting to save democracy, says Uddhav Thackeray
Mumbai, Jan 23: The Shiv Sena (UBT) and Prakash Ambedkar's Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi on Monday announced an alliance ahead of civic polls in several cities in Maharashtra, the move coinciding with the birth anniversary of Shiv Sena founder late Bal Thackeray.
Addressing a joint press conference, Uddhav Thackeray said his grandfather Keshav Thackeray, also known as Prabodhankar Thackeray, and Prakash Ambedkar's grandfather, legendary social icon and jurist B R Ambedkar, were contemporaries who admired each other and worked to eradicate social evils and bad practices.
"Now there are some bad practices in politics and to eradicate them, the inheritors of these two leaders, and people around them, have come together to protect the country's interest. We are coming together to ensure democracy is alive," Thackeray said.
Without naming the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is ruling in Maharashtra as well as at the Centre, Thackeray said the country is heading towards autocracy.
The terms of several municipal corporations, including those of Mumbai, Thane, Pune, and municipal councils ended last year but polls could not be held due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thackeray also dared the powers-that-be to hold Assembly polls in Maharashtra at the earliest. The state is being ruled by a faction of the Sena that broke away in June last year and the Bharatiya Janata Party, and the Thackeray group has routinely called it a dispensation of "traitors".
Speaking about the alliance, Ambedkar said the coming together of the VBA and Shiv Sena (UBT) was the start of the "politics of change".
The move is seen as an attempt by Thackeray to consolidate support among Dalits ahead of the civic polls in the state.
The VBA has presence in pockets of Vidarbha, with Ambedkar having represented Akola in the Lok Sabha in 1998 and 1999.
It had formed an alliance with the Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen in 2019 and had hurt the prospects of the NCP and Congress on several Assembly seats.
The alliance talks between the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the VBA were underway for the last few months, with Ambedkar earlier saying it was up to Thackeray to make the formal announcement.
Ambedkar also said the alliance is between the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the VBA for the moment, but he hoped other constituents of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party) also join.
Thackeray said he has not seen opposition from the Congress and NCP to the inclusion of VBA in the MVA.
Last month, the Jogendra Kawade-led People's Republican Party (PRP), which has a following among Dalits in the state, had joined hands with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena.
The BJP, which is a partner in Shinde's government, is allied with the Republican Party of India (A) of Ramdas Athawale, who is also a Union minister.
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Fadnavis files papers in Nagpur SW seat; banks on 'Ladki Bahin' to blank out oppn in polls
Nagpur (PTI): Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Friday said the ruling Mahayuti will retain power in the assembly polls given its governance record and welfare measures as he filed his nomination from the Nagpur South-West constituency.
Addressing a rally before filing the papers as the BJP candidate, he said the Mahayuti government's work speaks for itself, and hit out at opposition parties, saying the 'Ladki Bahin' scheme, targeted at poor women, and its beneficiaries were enough to defeat them in the November 20 elections.
Fadnavis, who was the chief minister from 2014 to 2019 and for a short tenure in November 2019, has successfully contested the assembly polls for five times from the city -- two times from Nagpur West constituency and three times from Nagpur South-West.
The BJP leader (54) is seeking re-election from Nagpur South-West in what is his sixth electoral contest from his hometown in the state's Vidarbha region. He has been an MLA for the past 25 years starting 1999.
Before filing his nomination form, Fadnavis visited Union minister and former BJP chief Nitin Gadkari's residence here. Both BJP leaders then paid floral tributes to Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar's statue at the Sanvidhan Square, followed by a roadshow from there till Akashvani Square.
Addressing a gathering at the end of the roadshow, Fadnavis said, "Our work speaks louder than our words. People can see the development in Nagpur -- be it Nagpur Metro Rail, Nagpur-Mumbai Samruddhi Expressway or other development projects that have changed the face of Nagpur."
The work carried out by the BJP in the last seven-and-a-half years in the state (MVA government was in office from November 2019 to June 2022) and by the party-led Centre in the last 10 years, has changed the face of Nagpur, the second capital of Maharashtra, he said.
"I won't talk about opposition parties as our Ladki Bahin (scheme and its beneficiaries) is enough for them. Congress leaders Sunil Kedar and Nana Patole even tried to stop the Ladki Bahin Yojana by filing a petition in the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court," he added.
Ladki Bahin, launched a few months ago, is a flagship scheme of the Eknath Shinde-led Mahayuti government, under which underprivileged women get a stipend of Rs 1,500 per month.
The Mahayuti government changed the picture of Vidarbha through several ventures, including the Gosikhurd irrigation projects, development of Nagpur and the Amravati airport and other works, noted the Deputy CM.
"The Mahayuti government is creating a new Maharashtra under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is creating a new India," Fadnavis emphashised.
He said his government has issued 48 Government Resolutions (GR) related to welfare measures targeted at Other Backward Classes (OBC), and challenged the Congress to show even one such notification brought during its long stint in office.
The Mahayuti government, which assumed office in June 2022, has also worked for tribals and all other sections of society, maintained the senior BJP minister.
Fadnavis and two other sitting BJP MLAs - Mohan Mate (Nagpur South) and Krishna Khopde ( Nagpur East) - filed their nominations at the district collectorate. Gadkari and state BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule accompanied Fadnavis at the time.
Later addressing the media, Fadnavis opined the Congress has always been "anti-reservation" and asserted nobody can tinker with the quota provision for underprivileged communities as long as his party is around.
The Deputy CM said it is unfortunate that state Congress chief Nana Patole is supporting the "anti- reservation" stand of his party leader Rahul Gandhi.
Fadnavis thanked PM Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president JP Nadda and Gadkari for his nomination from Nagpur South-West. He said voters have seen his work and performance as an MLA for the last 25 years and will surely bless him this time, too.
"Similarly, people will also bless the Mahayuti government under Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Mahayuti will again form government in the state," said the BJP leader.
He expressed confidence the Mahayuti alliance, which consists of the BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP, will win all the 12 Vidhan Sabha seats in Nagpur district.
To a query on a viral video of Patole, where he is heard supporting Rahul Gandhi's statement on "ending reservation", Fadnavis said the Grand old Party has always been anti-quota.
"I feel Nana Patole is a staunch Rahul Gandhi 'bhakt'. All of them, right from Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi to Rahul Gandhi, have been anti-reservation. It is unfortunate Patole is also supporting their anti-reservation stand. Nobody can touch reservation system as long as the BJP is there in the country and the Constitution is in force," he asserted.
Addressing the gathering earlier, Gadkari said what the Congress could not do in 60 years, the Mahayuti government has done in Nagpur and Maharashtra under the leadership of Fadnavis and PM Modi.
The Minister of Road Transport and Highways, the Lok Sabha member from Nagpur, said development works of more than Rs 1 lakh crore had been carried out in his constituency in the last 10 years alone.
"Maharashtra has got a very able leadership in the form of Fadnavis," he said, urging people to give the reins of the state in his party colleague's hands once again.
Polling for the 288-member Maharashtra assembly will be held on November 20 and votes will be counted three days later.
