NAGPUR NEWS:-Vidarbha leaders take cue from Telangana

Cutting across party lines, Vidarbha politicians met on Monday in Nagpur and decided to draw up a joint strategy to revive the movement for a separate state.

At an all-party meeting convened by Bharatiya Republican Party-Bahujan Mahasangh (BRP-BMS) leader Prakash Ambedkar, representatives of the Congress, BJP, various factions of the Republican Party of India (RPI), and several smaller pro-Vidarbha organisations agreed on the need for a joint action plan to press for the longstanding demand.




The move comes on the heels of the crisis in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, where the demand for a separate Telangana has reached a crescendo.



The meeting was significant as it was convened by Dalit politicians. About 17% of Vidarbha’s population is Dalit, much higher than the state average. The region is also the epicentre of a Dalit socio-political movement.



“Most parties have broad consensus on statehood,” Ambedkar said. The strategy for joint action will be decided on January 7, when former state minister Ranjit Deshmukh is organising a convention. A ‘Vidarbha bandh’ will be announced on Monday next at a similar convention that is being organised by the unified factions of the RPI.



So far, Ambedkar had kept his distance from the other RPI splinters and it is still unclear if he would join the January 11 convention. His supporters, however, told DNA that he is not averse to joining hands with them on the issue.



Vidarbha, part of the erstwhile Central Provinces and Berar, was merged with Maharashtra when the state was formed in 1960 after a strong movement for a single Marathi-speaking state though the States Reorganisation Commission had favoured a separate state four years earlier.



Vidarbha’s leadership, which also wanted a separate state, gave in to pressure from Western Maharashtra and signed the Nagpur Agreement, supporting Maharashtra. Nagpur, the capital of CP & Berar, was reduced to Maharashtra’s second capital, hosting the winter session of the state legislature and a bench of the Bombay high court in addition to regional headquarters of other offices.



The Shiv Sena, which is opposed to a division of Maharashtra, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, which is undecided on the issue, and the Nationalist Congress Party, whose stand is ambiguous, skipped Monday’s meeting. Ambedkar said he had not invited the two Senas.