Uttarakhand hopes Maya will sort out separation pangs

With the BSP holding the reins of Uttar Pradesh, the Uttarakhand Government is looking forward to amicably settle some of the contentious issues nagging the two states since the creation of the hill state. The reason: Mayawati8217;s party is keen to expand base in Uttarakhand and would not like to be seen as hurdle in its progress.

Another factor is the BSP8217;s fairly good performance in the February Assembly polls here this year. Not only it improved its vote share but also raised its tally to eight from seven previously. A consolidation of Dalit and Muslim votes was quite obvious in Hardwar and Udham Singh Nagar districts. While Mayawati8217;s party bagged two seats in the latter, it won six out of nine Assembly seats in the former. She is also credited with carving out Udham Singh Nagar and Rudraprayag districts during her earlier tenure as Chief Minister of undivided Uttar Pradesh.

The two states have been trying to sort out issues of assets and liabilities ever since the hill state was carved out in November 2000 without much success.

The hill state8217;s BSP leaders hope that Mayawati, who is taking a lot of interest in their state, would help in sorting out the pending issues unlike the previous Uttar Pradesh government. 8220;We hope Behenji would be able to help Uttarakhand,8221; Shahzad, leader of BSP Legislature Party, said.

Even Uttarakhand Chief Minister Maj Gen B C Khanduri retd expressed similar sentiment when he said, 8220;I hope that with regime change in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh we would be able to sort out issues pending between us.8221;