Mission Vidarbha: Old horses leave Cong, not many follow

But no sitting legislator or Parliamentarian from the region was present at the meeting. ‘‘They have been warned not to go with us,’’ Salve claimed. The only one to speak against the move was former MLA Bhau Mulak who was booed by the boisterous crowd.

Salve said the decision to quit Congress was an ‘‘emotional’’ one and he attributed it to Sonia Gandhi’s firm ‘‘no’’ for a separate Vidarbha. ‘‘Soniaji said this to Sathe and I in a meeting held in the third week of July in the presence of Pranab Mukherjee and Manmohan Singh. Soniaji kept mum when we asked her whose larger interest was she talking about,’’ Salve said.

He claimed he was only fighting for justice to Vidarbha and wasn’t looking for political rehabilitation. ‘‘I have had it all in the last 35 years. It’s humbug that I am doing this because I wasn’t given a Rajya Sabha ticket. I swear to God I will be happy staying home in a separate Vidarbha state,’’ he said.

Salve claimed even Sharad Pawar had supported statehood for Vidarbha and offered electoral alignment. ‘‘I have an encouraging feedback from Vidarbha. All those opposing the cause will meet their nemesis,’’ he said.

In New Delhi, Sathe said the new party would contest all the seats in the region for the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. The Vidarbha region has 66 Assembly seats and 11 Lok Sabha seats. Of these, 28 MLAs and 4 MPs are with the Congress.

Sathe, however, said: ‘‘At the national level we have decided to support the Congress because we are very old Congressmen and Sonia Gandhi remains the leader.’’

But at the state level, Sathe said, the decision would depend on whether the Congress would support the demand for a separate Vidarbha.