Zeenews Bureau
Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Sunday joined a chorus of leaders demanding separate states when she wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh again demanding a separate ‘Purvanchal’ state carved out from UP’s eastern state.
BSP chief had earlier written a letter to PM demanding separate states of Bundelkhand and Paschimanchal.
"The CM has written a letter to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh requesting him to give Centre`s permission for creation of separate Purvanchal state and expediting the
constitutional procedure in that regard," Additional Cabinet Secretary Vijay Shanker Pandey told reporters here.
The UP Chief Minister has decided to move a resolution in state Assembly in this regard as well. However, the final call in this regard would be taken by the Centre.
The Uttar Pradesh region in question has 23 MPs in Parliament.
The state government had earlier through a letter sent in March last year had apprised the Centre of its clear opinion on carving out a separate Purvanchal state, Pandey said.
"The government had also expressed its clear opinion on this issue in the state Assembly on October 31, 2007. Once the permission is received, the state government will get a
resolution for Purvanchal state passed in the assembly and forward it to the Centre," he said.
Pandey said that the Chief Minister in her letter has said that creation of Purvanchal was necessary for better administrative management and keeping in mind the expectations
and aspirations of the local populace.
"The Chief Minister has repeatedly stated that she was in favour of smaller states and supports creation of a separate Purvanchal state," he said.
The Additional Cabinet Secretary said Mayawati in her letter pointed out that Purvanchal region of UP was very backward socially and economically, which resulted in poverty.
"To remove regional imbalance and to accelerate development of the state, incorporating the needs of Purvanchal region, the state government had earlier forwarded a proposal to the Centre requesting it to sanction a special package of Rs 80,000 crore," he said.
Pandey said that Mayawati in her letter also requested Singh to get the required financial assistance sanctioned at the earliest.
"It is not possible to meet the development demands of the state from internal resources, therefore a special package had been demanded," he said.
On December 11, Mayawati had sought the Centre`s consent for the creation of separate states of Bundelkhand and Paschimanchal.
"I have renewed the demand for smaller states through a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to give consent to UP as it has given to Andhra Pradesh for setting up a separate Telangana state," Mayawati had told reporters.
While other leaders are demanding separate states to boost their power in a particular region, Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) may be able to retain its power in ‘Purvancahl’ even if the division comes through.
Earlier, Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh, a strong votary of Harit Pradesh, said in New Delhi that his party will launch an agitation if the Central government fails to consider his demand for creation of the new state from UP.
Former Railway Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad has said that he supported demands for creating Purvanchal and Bundelkhand.
The demands for the separate states started after Telangana Rashtirya Samiti (TRS) chief KC Rao observed a fast-unto-death for a separate Telangana state from Andhra Pradesh which later led to his critical condition in the hospital. The Centre’s decision to consider his demand led to the calls of separate states from various states’ leaders.
There are also demands of separate ‘Vidarbha’ state from Maharashtra and Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) demanding separate Gorkhaland from West Bengal.
In Assam, the Bodo, Karbis and Dimasa tribes have also again raised the demand for statehood.
With agency inputs
