Federation of New States to press for creation of new states

"If the central government is carving out Telengana in the near future, than the government should create atleast 15 new states where the demand has already been already raised and people have been agitating for the last several decades," Bodoland rpt Bodoland MP and the federation's president Vishwamathiri told reporters today.

He said the first State Reorganisation Commission (SRC) headed by Justice Fazal Ali had favoured creating Telengana and Vidarbha in 1953, but his recommendations were overlooked.

Today there are demands for creation of 15 new states in the country, he said. When the United States could have 50 states, why India with 120 crores population cannot have 50 states, he said.

Flanked by former minister of state, west Bengal, Dawa Pakhrin, working president Ramkishandev Tomar and actor Raja Bundela, he said 42 percent of the population in the country was in favour of smaller new states.

Earlier the federation's Vidarbha unit held a day-long sit-in agitation to demand setting up a separate Vidarbha state.