Prakash Ambedkar's front releases first list of 37 candidates for Lok Sabha poll

Mumbai, Mar 15: Dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar's Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi has released first list of 37 candidates for upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Prakash Ambedkar on Tuesday said his political front will contest all the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra, a development which comes as a jolt to efforts of the Congress and NCP to forge a 'grand alliance' against the BJP.

Making the announcement in Akola district, located around 590 km from here, Ambedkar said no further talks would be held with the Congress to join the anti-BJP coalition.

Ambedkar is likely to contest from Solapur Lok Sabha seat against senior Congress leader and former Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde.

BJP's Sharad Bansode defeated Shinde in the 2014 Lok Sabha poll from Solapur.

Prakash Ambedkar, grandson of the architect of Indian Constitution Dr B R Ambedkar, is founder of the Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh.

He forged an alliance earlier with Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) in Maharashtra and has been holding rallies across state.

The consolidation of Dalit and Muslims votes in some pockets, especially in the Vidarbha region, had prompted the Congress and NCP to invite Ambedkar to join their 'grand alliance' against the BJP-led NDA.