Lok Sabha elections 2024: Ex-MNS leader Vasant More meets VBA chief Prakash Ambedkar to discuss Pune LS seat

Prakash Ambedkar. Pic/Atul Kamble

Former Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader from Pune in Maharashtra, Vasant More, on Friday met Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) chief Prakash Ambedkar in Mumbai to discuss the possibility of contesting the Lok Sabha elections 2024, reported the PTI.

Vasant More had resigned from the Raj Thackeray-led MNS recently. Although he has not joined any political outfit, he is keen to contest the Pune Lok Sabha seat.

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"I met Prakash Ambedkarji today. This is our first meeting and it was positive. Polls for the Pune parliamentary constituency will take place in the fourth stage (of polling)...The next course of action will be decided in the next three to four days," Vasant More told reporters in Mumbai, as per the PTI.

Asked if he would be the VBA's candidate in Pune, Vasant More said that the decision regarding it would be taken by Prakash Ambedkar.

"He will declare his stand," he added, according to the PTI.

Prakash Ambedkar said he held initial talks with Vasant More.

"We will inform you officially (about More) in a couple of days. I will also announce a new kind of politics that Maharashtra will see," he said, as per the PTI.

Asked whether the VBA would join hands with the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), he said that he would declare everything by April 2.

Prakash Ambedkar-led VBA had been in talks with the MVA for months for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections 2024 in Maharashtra. However, earlier this week, Ambedkar announced eight candidates from the VBA, signalling that he was no more keen on tying up with the three-party alliance, the news agency reported on Friday.

Meanwhile, Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) on Thursday accused Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut of "stabbing" it in the back amid seat sharing talks with the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), reported the PTI.

Prakash Ambedkar was in talks with the MVA, which comprises the Congress, the Nationalist Congress (SP) and the Shiv Sena (UBT), for the Lok Sabha elections 2024 but recently announced candidates on several seats.

In a post on social media platform X, Prakash Ambedkar said, "How many lies Sanjay (Raut) is going to spread? If our thoughts are same, then why were we not invited to the MVA meetings? Why have you been holding meetings without inviting any representative of the VBA?"

(with PTI inputs)