Ahead of the Mumbai municipal elections and coinciding with the birth anniversary of late Bal Thackeray, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) president Prakash Ambedkar held a joint press conference on Monday, 23 January, to formally announce the alliance of the two parties.
The parties will contest upcoming municipality elections as well as 2024 Lok Sabha and Maharashtra assembly elections together.
The alliance between Shiv Sena (UBT) and VBA is being dubbed as coming together of Shiv Shakti and Bhim Shakti – 'Shiv' standing for 17th-century Maratha ruler Chhatrapati Shivaji and 'Bhim' referring to Dr BR Ambedkar.
"From the point of view of the state and the country, we are taking an important step and that is, the coming together of Shiv Shakti and Bhim Shakti," Thackeray said in the press conference.