Prakash Ambedkar had no problem taking NCP’s help earlier: Sharad Pawar

Ambedkar, who heads the Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh, said Thursday that he was ready to form alliance with the Congress, but not the NCP. Pawar was secular, but not his party, he said.

The NCP chief also alleged that Ambedkar once fielded a candidate against the NCP in the Mumbai North-East Lok Sabha seat, which helped BJP candidate Pramod Mahajan. (File)

A day after Dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar questioned his party’s secular credentials, NCP chief Sharad Pawar said Friday that Ambedkar had not felt any qualms about taking NCP’s help in the past.

Ambedkar, who heads the Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh, said Thursday that he was ready to form alliance with the Congress, but not the NCP. Pawar was secular, but not his party, he said.

“Ambedkar would not have taken NCP’s support in two elections in Akola (in Lok Sabha elections) had NCP been not secular. I had not gone there for campaigning then, but NCP workers had,” Pawar told reporters here. “He found the (NCP) workers secular then,” Pawar added.

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The NCP chief also alleged that Ambedkar once fielded a candidate against the NCP in the Mumbai North-East Lok Sabha seat, which helped BJP candidate Pramod Mahajan. “So those who helped the BJP are now deciding who is secular and who is not,” Pawar quipped.

Last week, Ambedkar announced an alliance with Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM in the coming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

“I have joined hands with the AIMIM and now kept the doors open for a tie-up with Congress. But I am not comfortable with the NCP,” Ambedkar said on Thursday.

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