Statehood for Vidarbha demand by BJP post Telangana

Telangana gives thrust to demand for Vidarbha; BJP, Shiv Sena at odds on statehood for Vidarbha

The Central Government’s green-signal to form the Telangana state out of Andhra Pradesh has led to the revival of the demand for a separate state of Vidarbha to be carved out of Maharashtra.

Interestingly, this demand for a Vidarbha state has brought to the surface the sharp differences of opinion in the Opposition Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in Maharashtra, which is now ruled by the Congress-led coalition.

While the state-level leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are unanimous in favouring the long-standing demand for a separate Vidarbha, leaders of the Shiv Sena strongly oppose “splitting” of Maharashtra.

The relations between and the BJP and the Shiv Sena have already been strained because of what the Shiv Sena leaders believe is the BJP’s desire to bring the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), led by Raj Thackeray, into the Opposition alliance.

Subhash Desai, senior leader of the Shiv Sena, told reporters that the party is opposed to a separate state of Vidarbha and stressed that the development of the Vidarbha region is quite possible even if the region stays as a part of Maharashtra state.

Desai emphasized that the Shiv Sena will never support the creation of Vidarbha, adding that the party’s supremo Bal Thackeray believes in ‘Sanyukta Maharashtra’ (a united Maharashtra) and the party will not allow Maharashtra “to be broken into two parts.”

Meanwhile, Vilas Muttemwar, Congress leader and Member of Parliament from Nagpur, has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi demanding that the Central Government should intervene in forming a separate Vidarbha state.

The demand for a separate Vidarbha state, Vilas Muttemwar pointed out in his letter, is over 50 years old and that the demand has always come up for discussion at the meetings of the State Reorganisation Commission. The several requests made before the State Reorganisation Commission have so far been in vain, he added.

Devendra Fadnavis, of the BJP, and the MLA from south-west Nagpur, said the BJP, which had always supported the struggle for a separate Telangana, will now fight for the creation of Vidarbha.

Fadnavis alleges that various governments in Maharashtra have neglected the development of the Vidarbha region and also that the natural resources of Vidarbha are being over-exploited, besides the region suffering from backwardness and unemployment.

According to Eknath Khadse, Leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly, the BJP has always supported formation of smaller states and cited as examples the states of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand.

Khadse said he will write to the Central Government requesting it to speed up the process of forming the state of Vidarbha, which will, according to him, bring relief to hundreds of thousands of people now residing in the Vidarbha region.

Nitin Gadkari, Maharashtra state president of the BJP, who also hails from the Vidarbha region, said a decision to back the struggle for the state of Vidarbha had been taken at the national level of the party. The BJP, Gadkari asserted, will make “every effort” to make the Central Government to agree to the party’s demand for Vidarbha, adding that, “after Telangana, it will certainly be Vidarbha.”

Ranjit Deshmukh, former president of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC), has announced that he will appeal to all political leaders in the Vidarbha region to strive to gain a Vidarbha state.