Why Prakash Ambedkar becomes so important for Congress in Maharashtra?

The humiliating defeat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections has brought Congress and Nationalist Congress Party to their knees.

During the pre-poll alliance talks, The behavior of both Congress and NCP was very rude and arrogant. Congress was not ready to give more than 4 seats out of 48 Lok Sabha seats to the Prakash Ambedkar’s party Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi. But the results of Lok Sabha elections has shown a mirror to the Congress and NCP.  Both these parties have to face defeat in six seats. The VBA has played a major role on three other seats. In their very first year of the party's formation, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi managed to bag nearly 14 % votes in Maharashtra which is remarkable for any new party. 

READ | 2019 Lok Sabha Election Results For Maharashtra: BJP-Shiv Sena Duo Nearly Clean Sweep The State, Wins 42 Out Of State's 48 Seats

Why Prakash Ambedkar becomes so important? 

Prakash Ambedkar is a grandson of the Father of the India's Constitution Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar. Though Prakash Ambedkar has been in politics for many years, he never became a powerful force into the Maharashtra politics. But the Bheema Koregaon in 2018 has given a new life to the political ambitions of Prakash Ambedkar. In a very short period of time, Prakash Ambedkar successfully managed to bring almost all the Dalit Organisations under one roof and his tie-up with Hyderabad based party All India Majlis-e-ittehadul Muslimeen ( AIMIM) has created a deadly combination of Dalit and Muslim vote bank which have the power to defeat even the most powerful leader. 

In 2019 Lok Sabha elections, at least on nine seats, VBA candidates have got vote more than 1 lakh votes. Like Congress, VBA also managed to win one Lok Sabha seat of Aurangabad which was considered as one of the traditional seats of  Shivsena. VBA candidate Imtiyaz Jalil has bagged more than 3 lakhs votes from this seats. This win of VBA candidate shows the power of Dalit-Muslim vote bank and 14% vote-share in Lok Sabha polls have given a clear message to the Congress and NCP top leadership that now they can not afford to lose Prakash Ambedkar

After the poll defeat, Congress and NCP called a meeting of all the like-minded parties. In this meeting, many leaders agreed that it was a mistake to not to include Prakash Ambedkar into the Mahagathabandhan. But then the Congress leaders said, we wanted to include VBA but their demands of seats were unreasonable. But now these things are of the past. Many leaders of Congres and NCP believe that if Prakash Ambedkar does not become part of mahagathabandhan then both the parties have to face another humiliating defeat in the upcoming assembly election 

In Lok Sabha polls, traditional Dalit and Muslim voters of Congress and NCP have shifted to VBA in a large number. If Prakash Ambedkar becomes part of the Mahagathabandhan then there are chances that Dalit- Muslim votes will not be divided between so-called secular parties and VBA could become a big asset for the mahagathabandhan. NCP MLA and Maharashtra State vice president of NCP, Jitendra Ahwad writes on Twitter that both the parties should send a proposal to the Prakash Ambedkar ASAP.

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