Nagpur: BJP MLA
Ashish Deshmukh has announced that he was ready to resign from legislatorship for separate state of Vidarbha. He however, indicated that his decision would depend on outcome of Karnataka assembly elections to be held in April this year.
Addressing a press conference on Saturday, Deshmukh said that BJP government had failed to solve the problems of Vidarbha. He however, refrained from directly criticizing chief minister Devendra Fadnavis by saying that the Rs4.5 lakh crore debt burden on state exchequer had made things difficult for the CM.
Deshmukh would take out a Vidarbha Atmabal Yatra from Sunday from Nagpur. He would visit all corners of the region to know the sentiments of people on the statehood. The yatra would end on February 13.
The MLA refused to spell out the contents of the notice issued to him by state party high command. "I had raised the issues of farmers in the assembly. So had other BJP MLAs. However, only I was issued a notice. As the CM has not replied to my letter on Vidarbha statehood demand, I have not replied to the notice. However, I will do so during the yatra," he said.
Fadnavis had claimed that Deshmukh had made the letter public before submitting it to him. Countering this Deshmukh said, "I had submitted the letter to the CM on December 6 and made the letter public on December 10."
While Deshmukh criticized BJP on several fronts he refrained from an all-out attack. "I have full faith in Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I am sure that he will present a pro-farmer budget in view of BJP's poor performance in rural areas of Gujarat. I will decide my future course of action on February 2 after the budget," he said.
On talks with leaders of other parties, he said, "I have not talked to anybody and it is up to them to participate in this programme for the sake of Vidarbha."
