Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Friday asserted that Samajwadi Party (SP) was against division of any State as mere bifurcation would not resolve the problems facing a State.
Mr.Yadav said this while talking to reporters in Lucknow after YSR Congress president Jaganmohan Reddy met him and sought his support against division of Andhra Pradesh, a press release issued by the YSRC said.
The Chief Minister said SP on many occasions made it clear that it was not in favour of division of a State as it believed that smaller States was not the answer for backwardness. SP leader Mr. Mulayam Singh had stated the same in the past.
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Citing the example of Uttaranchal, which was carved out from Uttar Pradesh, he said that some of the issues were yet to be addressed. He said the issues raised by Mr. Jagan needed to be discussed thoroughly in Parliament and State assembly.
Mr. Jagan said that he sought the support of Mr.Akhilesh Yadav against Andhra Pradesh’s bifurcation and both of them had talked in detail. Referring to Article 3, he had informed Mr. Yadav that if AP was bifurcated it could set a precedent for other States.
The YSR Congress leader had met leaders of various national and regional parties in a bid to mobile support against division of Andhra Pradesh and impressed upon them on the need to amend Article 3 to prevent its misuse.
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Among others he met the leaders of BJP, CPI, CPI (M), JD(U), National Conference, DMK and Chief Ministers of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee and Tamil Nadu, J.Jayalalithaa.