Sena (UBT) party chief Uddhav Thackeray and Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) leader Prakash Ambedkar after jointly addressing a press conference regarding their alliance at Ambedkar Bhavan on Monday. (Express Photo by Ganesh Shirsekar)
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DESCRIBING IT as “naya rasta and naya rishta”, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena (UBT) and Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) on Monday announced their alliance and made it clear that VBA will also be part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). Congress said they have no problem with a like-minded party joining the alliance.
“The Sena (UBT) and VBA have decided to come together. The future political roadmap will be decided on the situation that prevailed at that moment,” said Thackery at a joint press conference along with VBA chief Prakash Ambedkar in Mumbai. The announcement came on the birth anniversary of Sena supremo late Balasaheb Thackeray. “We have embarked on a naya rasta and naya rishta,” both the leaders said.
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Stating that he hopes NCP chief Sharad Pawar will also come along, Ambedkar said, “I have read the reaction of Sharad Pawar. There is nothing new in it. Our fued is old. It is not about the farm it is about leadership. I am hoping that he will join hands with us because I look at this battle with a different perspective,” he said.
On Sunday, Pawar said he does not want to get into the issue of the alliance and that Ajit Pawar will speak about it.
Uddhav said they kept Congress and NCP in the loop about this. “They have no problem about the alliance,” he said.
Congress spokesperson Atul Londhe said, “At a time when our democracy is under threat, a like-minded party joining the MVA fold is a positive move. We have no problem with VBA joining hands with us. As regards seat sharing it will be discussed as the situation emerges.”
Thackeray said, “We need to take to the people whatever that is happening in the country. The Prime Minister was in Mumbai last week. When the election draws near, the poor are praised. After the vote, they find themselves on the road. On the other hand, they (PM) keep flying high. All this needs to stop and that is why we have come together,” Thackeray said.
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The Sena (UBT) chief said, “People are misled by triggering controversies… We want to free people from such ideological pollution. To keep our democracy alive and maintain the sanctity of our constitution, we have come together.”
Ambedkar said, “Voters decide who to elect. But it is up to the political parties to decide, who should contest. The rise of dynastic politics has sidelined concern for the poor. And that is why capitalists and looters are at the helm of power.”
Ambedkar said the coming together of Shiv Sena (UBT) and VBA will lead to politics of change. “When we go through the manifesto of Janata Dal, it promises implementation of Mandal Commission report. Unfortunately, Janata Dal fell apart on the issue of the Mandal Commission report. When we try to tackle social issues, the mathematics of social set-up also changes.”
Stating that he hopes NCP chief Sharad Pawar will come along, Ambedkar said, “I have read the reaction of Sharad Pawar. There is nothing new in it. Our feud is old. It is not about the farm it is about leadership. I was hoping that he will join hands with us because I look at this battle with a different perspective,” he said.
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Slamming the Union government, Ambedkar said, “Today, attempts are being made to finish off political leadership through the Enforcement Directorate (ED). If a leader has done anything wrong, then action should be initiated against him. Take him to court and then put him in jail. But currently, they are not being taken to court but are put in jail in a bid to humiliate the leadership.”
Ambedkar said, “No one is immortal. No one has come with an ‘immortal belt’ around him. Similarly, one day, it will be all over for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”
Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.
Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives.
Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees.
During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa.
Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.
Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More
