Lok Sabha elections 2019: UP Congress favours 4 divisions of state

The Congress in Uttar Pradesh favours division of the country’s most populous state into four smaller states for better governance and to address the existing disparities between these regions.

The UP Congress has suggested that the proposal to divide the country’s politically and electorally important state into Purvanchal (east), Awadh Pradesh (central part), Paschim Pradesh (west) and Bundelkhand be incorporated in the party’s manifesto for the April-May Lok Sabha elections, a leader familiar with the development said.

“We have suggested that this should be a part of the national manifesto. It is very important to divide UP into four states for better governance,” said a state Congress functionary on the condition of anonymity.

For Bundelkhand, the party has suggested that some parts from Madhya Pradesh should also be included in the proposed state. With this move, the Congress seeks to turn the tables on Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati who has been a strong votary of UP’s division.

As the UP chief minister, Mayawati had floated the idea of dividing UP into four states in 2011, a few months before the state assembly elections in 2012. She had argued that smaller states could be governed better.

Subsequently, the Uttar Pradesh assembly had in November 2011 passed the resolution by a voice vote and forwarded it to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre. But the BSP was voted out of power in 2012 and the proposal did not move ahead.

The BSP chief reiterated her demand in 2014 when the Lok Sabha cleared the bill for the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh into two states .

The Congress hopes to cash in on the sub-regional sentiments in its campaign in the state, where it has been out of power since 1989 and is desperately seeking a revival of its political fortunes.

But another Congress leader said his party had always been in favour of smaller states for equitable development. “We don’t want to upstage any individual or any party but are keen to see the progress of all the regions,” he added.

First Published: Mar 19, 2019 07:25 IST