MiC system won’t lead to a separate Mumbai state: CM

Responding to fears expressed by former Union minister S B Chavan over the proposed system, Joshi said the ex-minister would do well to remember that Mumbai had by now made a “deep mark in the hearts and minds of the people” all over Maharashtra. “It would be naive to harbour any doubts over its separation from the state, he said. “The moment such an idea is floated publicly, the state will go up in flames.”

Earlier speaking at a function organised by the Dainik Marathwada to release a special supplement on 50 years of the Hyderabad liberation movement, Chavan hadwarned the Chief Minister that the Mayor in Council system contained the “seeds for the demand of statehood for Mumbai”.

The former minister said he believed that once those in the corporation began to enjoy the privileges and powers of a minister, “the day won’t be far off when they will want a state for themselves”. In theory, such a move was possible, he said, since Mumbai was the only district in the state which did not have a revenue deficit, Chavan added.

As for the demand for an independent Vidarbha state, the chief minister said he would sacrifice his chair but not allow Vidarbha to be independent of Maharashtra. The people of Marathwada had agreed to be part of Maharashtra without any preconditions while the leaders had come up with a list of demands to stay in their own homeland, the chief minister argued.

Later, addressing newspersons the chief minister said three new state ministers would be included in the cabinet expansion due after Dassera.

Earlier, on Tuesday, inaugurating amemorial dedicated to the martyrs of the Marathwada freedom movement, Joshi had warned against moves aimed at dividing Maharashtra into smaller states.

The chief minister urged leaders like Chavan — who presided over the function — to help curb “efforts to split the state”.