Maharashtra Democratic Federation to go it alone as AAP rejects overtures

The Aam Admi Party (AAP) has rejected Dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar's proposal for a pre-poll alliance with his party, the Maharashtra Democratic Federation (MDF), for the Lok Sabha election.

MDF will now go it alone, and on Tuesday, announced its first list of 13 candidates for Maharashtra.

Prakash, the grandson of BR Ambedkar, had last week, written to the AAP Maharashtra unit seeking alliance. "The AAP has told us that they had taken a decision at the national level not to forge alliance with any party and hence were unable to ally with us. However, they said they could support my candidature from Akola, which I refused."

Prakash said he had sought political alliance and not individual support. He also denied the reports that the Congress in Maharashtra wished to give him a ticket for the Lok Sabha elections.

"The possibility of any such alliance was rejected by Sonia Gandhi in 2009 itself. For the Congress, I would only like to state a Marathi proverb—Hoshiyar gaon ka hoshiyar raja (a smart king of a smart village)," said the still sulking Prakash. He has already announced his candidature from Akola constituency, which he will now contest under the MDF banner.

MDF candidates

Kailash Jadhav (Bhiwandi), Mohan Ghule (Palghar), Nana Kshirsagar (Pune), Prof Anjali Patle (Bhandara-Gondia), Satish Pendam (Gad Chiroli-Chimur), Shakil Patel (Yavatmal Washim), Vasant Ubale (Latur), Rambhau Ugale (Jalna), Gita Kadam (Shirur) and Digambar Sakat (Hathkadangle).