MVA bleeds as Sena (UBT) list snubs Congress demands, Prakash Ambedkar parts ways

After protracted talks, seat-sharing among Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition partners broke into open rift on Wednesday, as the Shiv Sena (UBT) went ahead and announced 17 candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, including for seats coveted by the Congress.

Congress Legislative Party leader Balasaheb Thorat said the Sena (UBT) should have avoided declaring candidates for Sangli and seats in Mumbai where discussions, he said, were still on. Mumbai Congress chief Varsha Gaikwad, said to be one of the ticket aspirants, said she had conveyed her unhappiness to the party leadership. Former Congress MP Sanjay Nirupam said he will “wait only for one week” to hear what the party leadership has to say. “I have all options open,” said Nirupam, who wants to contest from Mumbai North West, from where as well the Sena (UBT) has declared a candidate.

In another setback for the MVA, but particularly the Congress that was pushing for a tie-up with it, Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) announced it was ending its talks with the coalition and would go it alone. Ambedkar claimed to have spoken to Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil and got his support.

In its list declared Wednesday, the Sena (UBT) named former wrestler Chandrahar Patil as its candidate from Sangli in western Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray’s close aide Anil Desai from Mumbai South Central, and Amol Kirtikar from Mumbai North West.

The united Sena had won 18 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra in the 2019 polls, and the Sena (UBT) has been pushing to contest the same as part of the MVA. Its list on Wednesday did not include the Kalyan Lok Sabha seat, from where it is expected to contest.

Sangli is a traditional seat of the Congress, which won it continuously right from