Clamour for Vidarbha gets louder

A joint action committee announces sit in programme from August 5 in New Delhi

A joint action committee has announced a sit-in programme at Jantar Mantar in the national capital from August 5 to press for a separate Vidarbha state.

Most parties from the Vidarbha region of eastern Maharashtra, with the exception of the Shiv Sena, have declared their support for a separate Vidarbha.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator from Bhandara-Gondia, Nana Patole, said it was high time a separate Vidarbha was declared. “I would take up the issue in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly on Wednesday.”

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), part of the ruling coalition in Maharashtra, has declared it would support statehood for Vidarbha. The Republican Party of India, led by former member of Parliament (MP) Ramdas Athavale, has come out in support for the creation of Vidarbha. Athavale had parted ways with the Congress-NCP alliance to join the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in 2012.

The ruling Congress in Maharashtra is not in an hurry to rake up the issue.

But the BJP ally Shiv Sena said it was against such a move. The Sena’s group leader in the Assembly, Subhash Desai, said: “We are in favour of a united Maharashtra. This has been our consistent policy. Our party is insisting that Belgaum be incorporated into Maharashtra.”

Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Manikrao Thakre, who comes from the  Yavatmal district of Vidarbha, which has been one of the districts with the highest number of farmers suicides, told Business Standard, “A section of party members and citizens from Vidarbha are sympathetic towards statehood for the region. I would put up my view point in this regard when sought by the party high command.”

Congress MP from Nagpur Vilas Muttemwar has sought party president Sonia Gandhi's intervention for the creation of a separate Vidarbha state.

BJP's ally Shiv Sena, however, reiterated its strong opposition to the formation of Vidarbha. Shiv Sena's group leader in the state assembly Subhash Desai said his party was totally against the division of Maharashtra. “We are in favour of a united Maharashtra. This has been our consistent policy. Our party is insisting that Belgaum be incorporated into Maharashtra. How can the Shiv Sena support those demanding statehood for Vidarbha,” he said.