UP chief minister Mayawati’s proposal to split UP into four states has given the much-needed impetus to the National Federation of New States (NFNS) which now plans to move ahead on the slogan “News states for New India”.
“Ms Mayawati’s approval for creation of Bundelkhand, Purvanchal, Paschim Pradesh and Avadh Pradesh has lent weight to our demand for small states. If Ms Mayawati decides to lend her support to Telangana and Vidharbha, she can gain acceptability n the south also because Vidharbha is Ambedkar’s home state and Telangana has only 10 per upper caste population,” said Mr P. Niroop Reddy, convenor of the NFNS, here on Thursday.
Mr Reddy said that Ms Mayawati’s announcement had certainly given credibility to the movement for new states and was bound to have an impact on the political scenario. The fact that Bihar CM Nitish Kumar has supported her proposal was an added advantage.
“Her specific announcement will definitely give momentum to our movement because till now most political parties have been dilly-dallying on the issue,” he said.
The NFNS now plans to gain wider political acceptability to their demand for Purvanchal, Bundelkhand, Harit Pradesh (or Paschim Pradesh), Telangana, Vidharbha and Gorkhaland by meeting other top politicians and seeking their support.
“We will be meeting in Delhi early next month to draw up our future strategy now that Ms Mayawati has taken a concrete step in the direction of creating small states. Elections are due in most states where we can pressing for creation of new states over the next two years and we hope to use this to our advantage,” said Mr Raja Bundela, who heads the Bundelkhand Congress.
Other leaders who are now preparing to give momentum to their movement include Anil Bhonde (Vidharbha), Sanjayan Tripathi (Purvanchal), Prof. Manish Tamang (Gorkhaland) and Dr R.S. Rana (Brij Pradesh in Uttar Pradesh).