Actor-turned-politician Raja Bundela has formed a new political party called the Bundelkhand Congress to carry forward his campaign for creation of Bundelkhand state. The Bundelkhand Congress has been registered with the Election Commission.
Announcing this at a press conference here on Saturday, Mr Bundela said that his newly-formed party had a one-point manifesto which was creation of statehood for the region.
“We are not going to be misled with talks of development of Bundelkhand because ever since Independence, every party has promised us development but has never delivered. All we want is statehood and the people of Bundelkhand will manage their own affairs,” he said.
Mr Bundela, who resigned from the Congress last year, said that initially Mr Rahul Gandhi had supported the demand for statehood for Bundelkhand. “But Union minister Pradeep Jain misled Mr Rahul Gandhi and convinced him that Bundelkhand needed money, not statehood. So many packages have been sanctioned for Bundelkhand but all this has not made any difference to the fate of the people here. I had no option but to quit the Congress because my commitment to creation of Bundelkhand state remains unchanged,” he said.
Mr Bundela said the Bundelkhand Congress would contest all the 37 Assembly seats in the region and the candidates would be local people. “We will collect funds form the people to contest the elections and there will be no alliance with any party,” he pointed out. The actor-turned-politician said that the Bundelkhand Congress would make the district authorities and the bank officials accountable if any farmer committed suicide now.
“More than 580 farmers have committed suicide in Bundelkhand in recent months but now we will make sure that the officials are answerable if any such incident takes place,” he said.
He said the education system in Bundelkhand was in shambles and most schools were closing down for technical reasons like cancellation of recognition. “The youth is being denied education and with their future undecided, they are taking to unlawful activities.” he said.
A BSP minister told us that his government was not bothered because his voters do not read newspapers of listen to TV channels,” he disclosed.