<p>Mumbai: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/congress">Congress </a>on Sunday forged an alliance with the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), led by Prakash Ambedkar, grandson of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, ahead of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections.</p><p>The development could significantly reshape Mumbai’s political landscape, especially as Congress–VBA talks had failed during the 2024 Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections.</p> .Congress to allot up to 50% seats to women, youth in Kerala Assembly polls: Satheesan.<p>Of the BMC’s 227 seats, the Congress has offered 62 seats to the VBA, while retaining 165 seats for itself and its other allies.</p><p>The alliance was announced at a press conference addressed by Maharashtra Congress president Harshavardhan Sapkal and VBA Maharashtra unit vice-president Dr Dhairyavardhan Pundkar, in the presence of AICC secretary and senior spokesperson Sachin Sawant and VBA chief spokesperson Siddharth Mokle.</p><p>Mumbai Congress chief and Lok Sabha MP Prof Varsha Gaikwad and Ambedkar could not attend the press conference due to prior commitments.</p> .<p>Over the past few weeks, the Congress had been in negotiations with Ambedkar, the 71-year-old lawyer-activist-politician, who is a two-time Lok Sabha member from Akola and a former Rajya Sabha MP.</p><p>“The alliance between the Congress and the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi is a natural one. Both parties share similar ideological positions. We are constitutionalists who believe in the India envisioned by the Constitution, based on equality, fraternity and social justice,” Sapkal, a former MLA, said.</p> .<p>Referring to VBA’s forerunner, the Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh, Sapkal said the two parties had earlier allied during the 1998 and 1999 elections. “Twenty-five years later, we have come together again. This is not merely a game of numbers, but a confluence of ideas and values. Today marks the beginning of a new chapter,” he said.</p> .<p>The Congress and the VBA had also contested the recently concluded municipal council and town panchayat elections together in select districts.</p><p>With the BJP expected to be supported by the Ramdas Athawale-led RPI (Athawale), the Congress hopes the alliance with the VBA will help consolidate the Dalit vote bank in Mumbai.</p><p>On seat-sharing in the remaining 28 municipal corporations across Maharashtra, Mokle said the decision would be taken by local units.</p>
<p>Mumbai: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/congress">Congress </a>on Sunday forged an alliance with the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), led by Prakash Ambedkar, grandson of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, ahead of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections.</p><p>The development could significantly reshape Mumbai’s political landscape, especially as Congress–VBA talks had failed during the 2024 Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections.</p> .Congress to allot up to 50% seats to women, youth in Kerala Assembly polls: Satheesan.<p>Of the BMC’s 227 seats, the Congress has offered 62 seats to the VBA, while retaining 165 seats for itself and its other allies.</p><p>The alliance was announced at a press conference addressed by Maharashtra Congress president Harshavardhan Sapkal and VBA Maharashtra unit vice-president Dr Dhairyavardhan Pundkar, in the presence of AICC secretary and senior spokesperson Sachin Sawant and VBA chief spokesperson Siddharth Mokle.</p><p>Mumbai Congress chief and Lok Sabha MP Prof Varsha Gaikwad and Ambedkar could not attend the press conference due to prior commitments.</p> .<p>Over the past few weeks, the Congress had been in negotiations with Ambedkar, the 71-year-old lawyer-activist-politician, who is a two-time Lok Sabha member from Akola and a former Rajya Sabha MP.</p><p>“The alliance between the Congress and the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi is a natural one. Both parties share similar ideological positions. We are constitutionalists who believe in the India envisioned by the Constitution, based on equality, fraternity and social justice,” Sapkal, a former MLA, said.</p> .<p>Referring to VBA’s forerunner, the Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh, Sapkal said the two parties had earlier allied during the 1998 and 1999 elections. “Twenty-five years later, we have come together again. This is not merely a game of numbers, but a confluence of ideas and values. Today marks the beginning of a new chapter,” he said.</p> .<p>The Congress and the VBA had also contested the recently concluded municipal council and town panchayat elections together in select districts.</p><p>With the BJP expected to be supported by the Ramdas Athawale-led RPI (Athawale), the Congress hopes the alliance with the VBA will help consolidate the Dalit vote bank in Mumbai.</p><p>On seat-sharing in the remaining 28 municipal corporations across Maharashtra, Mokle said the decision would be taken by local units.</p>