Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Friday backed the formation of separate States of Bundelkhand and Western U.P. by bifurcation of the State in a missive to Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh. She said it would fulfil the needs and aspirations of the people of the two regions of U.P.
In this context, the Chief Minister appealed to the people of Bundelkhand and Western U.P. to up the ante, albeit within the parameters of law, on the creation of two smaller and separate States by incorporating the districts of the two regions. She added that Centre’s nod to Telangana has given credibility and momentum to the demand for creation of smaller States.
Stating that the Bahujan Samaj Party Government has always stood for the peoples' cause, Ms. Mayawati said she has written a letter to the Prime Minister urging him to take the initiative for the creation of Bundelkhand and Western U.P. states on the pattern of Uttarakhand.
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The Chief Minister added that “ Uttar Pradesh's population and size is a impediment in speeding up development works and fine-tune the administration, hence it is imperative to create smaller States of Bundelkhand and Western U.P. where administrative management would be better.”
Interestingly, Ms. Mayawati did not use the nomenclature “Harit Pradesh” for Western U.P. given by Rashtriya Lok Dal president, Ajit Singh. When asked why she had left out Purvanchal (Eastern U.P. ) even as she supported the cause of Bundelkhand and Western U.P., Ms. Mayawati said she would have no objection if the people of the region demanded a separate State.
Ms. Mayawati recalled that she had earlier written a letter to the Prime Minister on March 15, 2008 in which he had been apprised of the need to split UP into smaller States for the sake of better development. If the Government of India agreed to the proposal, a resolution on Bundelkhand and Western U.P. passed by the Vidhan Sabha would be sent to the Centre, considering that the formation of new States is the prerogative of Parliament.
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At a BSP rally in Lucknow on October 9, 2007, the Chief Minister had publicly supported the trifurcation of U.P. into Purvanchal, Bundelkhand and Western U.P. Ms. Mayawati said her Government had stated on the floor of the Vidhan Sabha on October 31, 2007 that under Article 3 of the Constitution, the authority for creating new States vested in Parliament.