Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday said that so far, no talks were held among the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) constituents — NCP, Congress and the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena — about taking Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) onboard.
He said the MVA constituents will contest the upcoming by-elections together.
“No talks were held regarding Prakash Ambedkar’s VBA ahead of the elections. We do not know what is going on between the two parties (Shiv Sena and VBA). We will not discuss anything over it,” Mr. Pawar said in Kolhapur.
The NCP didn’t hold any talks with Mr. Ambedkar. “There is no such proposal before us,” he said.
His comments came days after the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena announced alliance with VBA, and Mr. Ambedkar’s allegations that the NCP chief was ‘still siding’ with the BJP.
Meanwhile, the BJP has reportedly said that it will seek MVA’s support so that the upcoming bypolls to the Pune’s Kasba and Chinchwad Assembly seats are held unopposed.
When asked about the BJP’s claims of writing letters to MVA, the 82-year-old leader said that he was not aware about it.
“I have no information on that. I don’t know how he didn’t think about unopposed elections during the bypolls in Kolhapur and Pandharpur,” he said.