Tirpude urges Thackeray to back Vidarbha demand

Tirpude urges Thackeray to back Vidarbha demand
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

NAGPUR, AUG 24: Veteran Congress leader and former deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, Nashikrao Tirpude has urged Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray to support the demand of a separate Vidarbha state in the wake of the formation of three new states.

In a letter addressed to Thackeray, the former deputy chief minister reminded that it was Thackeray who had announced in a public meeting at Ramtek in Nagpur district on November 22, 1996 that if the Sena-BJP government failed to remove the development backlogs of the Vidarbha region within the next two years, he would lead the agitation for setting up of a separate Vidarbha state. "Four years have passed. But the development backlogs are still there," Tirpude pointed out and requested Thackeray to extend his support to the cause.

According to him, the then saffron government in the State failed to remove the development backlogs of the backward region. On the contrary, it provided meagre allocation for the region during its four-and-a-half-years regime. The then Sena-BJP government provided 22.23 per cent of its total annual allocation to Vidarbha in 1995-96, 19.48 per cent in the immediate next financial year, only 14.82 in 1997-98, 12.11 in 1998-99 and a meagre 12.04 per cent was sanctioned from its annual budget in the last financial year for Vidarbha region. "The figures showed that the saffron government was never serious about removing the backlog," he said and added that the then government even dared to ignore the Bhagwa Patrika

, launched by Thackeray in 1996, for the overall development of the region.

According to him, the clout of Marathi-speaking people will strengthen at the Centre if one more Marathi-speaking state is formed. "Barring Shiv Sena, all political parties and social organisations in the State have supported the issue of statehood for Vidarbha. The National Democratic Front (NDA) government could not initiate an official bill on formation of Vidarbha state in Parliament, along with Chhattisgarh, Uttarkhand and Jharkhand as Sena, one of the allies, is against for bifurcation of Maharashtra," he said and urged the Sena chief to reconsider the issue.

Meanwhile, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has extended its support to the demand of setting up of a separate Vidarbha state.

Govind Verma, one of NCP's general secretaries, claimed that the issue figured in the State meeting held at Mumbai on August 22 and Babanrao Pachpute assured the representatives of Vidarbha that the party was with them on the issue. "Our leader, Sharad Pawar, is in favour of small states and hence we support the formation of a separate Vidarbha," he reportedly said during the meeting.