Prakash Ambedkar’s Game for the Throne

A few days ago, Asaduddin Owaisi’s party AIMIM and Prakash Ambedkar's party Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh has announced that they will contest an upcoming Lok Sabha election in an alliance. Owaisi led AIMIM has also coined the slogan ‘Jai bheem Jai meem ’. The combination of the minority vote-bank seems to have shaken up the Congress party who is trying to form a grand alliance in Maharashtra. 

In Maharashtra, the population of SC is 17 percent & Muslim is 13 percent according to 2011 census. All political parties of Maharashtra know that if voters of both the community come together then they will play the decisive role in electing the government. Even though Asaduddin Owaisi managed to bring Prakash Ambedkar's party in his fold through an alliance but the Congress didn't give up. According to sources senior leaders of Congress party immediately contacted Prakash Ambedkar and asked him for a meeting.

Congress leaders and Prakash Ambedkar met in Mumbai on September 20 and they discussed the possibility of an alliance for coming to the parliamentary election in detail. Congress sources claim that the meeting was very positive and Prakash Ambedkar is ready to be part the of grand alliance but it depends on how much seats congress will offer to them. 

READ | “No Response From Congress On Alliance, So We Joined Hands With AIMIM”, Says Prakash Ambedkar

After Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra has the maximum number of Lok Sabha seats. According to sources, Prakash Ambedkar has demanded 17 seats out of 48 for his party Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh. Congress is not ready to give this much seats. Highly placed source in Congress told republic that they will not give more than 1 or 2 seats to Prakash Ambedkar’s party. As per sources Congress is ready to leave ‘Akola’ seat for Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh where they are very strong.  

Sources say that Prakash Ambedkar is fully aware that Congress will never fulfill his demand of 17 seats that’s why he also said, 'we are keen to form an alliance with Congress as they are a secular party & we will wait for them till the final day of the nomination'. Now, the question is, why is Prakash Ambedkar so eager to join hands with Congress party when he had already declared an alliance with Owaisi’s party? Does he fear to lose secular votes because Owaisi is known for his communal politics? Or joining hands with Owaisi was just a pressure tactic to put pressure on Congress for more seats? 

Meanwhile, the closeness of Prakash Ambedkar and Congress has made the AIMIM upset but they have not given up the hope.

MLA Imtiyaz Jalil told Republic that, the formal meeting between party chief Asaduddin Owaisi and Prakash Ambedkar has not happened yet. Once both the leaders will meet before 2 October then things will be pretty much clear. ‘Till now, congress was not giving any importance to Prakash, but once we announced the alliance they came to meet him hurriedly. It shows congress has become impatient & ready to do anything to gain power’ he added.

In the current social & political atmosphere, when Dalit movements are at peak, all political parties are trying to use tricks to keep the vote bank with them. Grandson of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, Prakash knows, this is his golden moment when he can force all other parties to fulfill his demand. It would be interesting to see what will the result of Prakash Ambedkar’s game for the throne.   

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