MH-AMBEDKAR-BHUJBAL

At a time the Congress is dreaming

to captain an alliance of like-minded parties against the BJP

for upcoming Lok Sabha elections and trying to woo Prakash

Ambedkar to the proposed bloc, the Dalit leader Wednesday

called upon NCP stalwart Chhagan Bhujbal here.

Ambedkar later said the meeting was both "political"

as well as a "courtesy" call.

The Congress has been trying to bring Ambedkar's

Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh (BBM) to the opposition fold against

the BJP.

Interstingly, the BBM already announced its tie-up

with Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM which was looked down on as

communal by the Congress.

When asked about what transpired at the huddle, the

Dalit leader said he and Bhujbal didn't talk about the BBM

joining the proposed alliance of the like-minded parties.

"It was a political meeting (with Bhujbal) in a sense

that they (NCP) are strong in certain areas, while we too are

strong in certain pockets," Ambedkar told reporters after the

meeting.

"We discussed what could be done to see that the BJP

government doesn't come to power again. Accordingly, we

exchanged information," he said.

Bhujbal could not be reached for comments.

A senior NCP leader had recently said that the Sharad

Pawar-led party and the Congress have reached on agreement to

contest 40 of the total 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra

together.

They are likely to leave remaining eight seats for

smaller allies.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)