Ambedkar open to Cong alliance

MUMBAI: Dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar on Saturday launched an attack on the Congress, but stressed that he is still open for an alliance with it to defeat the BJPSHIV Sena bloc.

Addressing a mega rally at Shivaji Park, Ambedkar said: “It is not the issue of the number of seats they have offered to us. We have ideological differences with the Congress. Currently the Congress is practising soft Hindutva which we are opposing. We want the Congress to revert back to their secular ideology,” said Ambedkar. “Our doors are still open and we will wait till the last moment for the alliance,” he added.

Ambedkar, incidentally, is being wooed by the Congressncp alliance and has been offered four seats. However, he has been demanding 12 seats which the alliance is unlikely to accept.

The Vanchit Aghadi floated by him has shored up support from a section of OBCS, Dalits and Muslims. If he contests solo, then the opposition votes are likely to get split. Many have accused Ambedkar of helping the BJP.

In his speech, Ambedkar was critical of both the Congress-ncp and BJP-SHIV Sena alliances. “They are the two sides of the same coin,” he added. “For the last 70 years, the Congress has not done anything for the depressed classes,” he added.

Ambedkar asserted that he was ready to contest alone with his alliance partner the All India Majlis-e-ittehad-ul-muslimeen (AIMIM) led by Asaduddin Owaisi at Shivaji Park. He said if his front came to power, he would make education free and also start a parallel banking system to ensure loans are easily available for the labour class and small traders.

Owaisi, in his speech, made an electoral appeal for the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi led by Ambedkar. “The people of Maharashtra have got an alternative in the form of Ambedkar and they should choose him,” said Owaisi.

Owaisi held Pakistan responsible for the Pulwama attack.