Why just Vidarbha? Even Konkan needs to be free — Deshmukh

In a clear indication that the dissension in the Congress on the Vidarbha issue has turned serious, Deshmukh, who is Minister for Agriculture and Textiles, threatened that 27 Congress MLAs from the region would form a separate group in the Assembly if the DF government failed to bring a bill on granting statehood to Vidarbha in the Winter Session of the State Legislature.

Deshmukh said the Vidarbha MLAs’ demand should be considered seriously by the Chief Minister. "We mean what we say," he said.

The minister also openly expressed his dissatisfaction over the handling of the issue by the Chief Minister and State Congress Chief Govindrao Adik.

"Both of them are not from Vidarbha. How did they discuss the issue with the party president without consulting us," he asked. While Chief Minister Deshmukh belongs to the Marathwada region, Adik hails from western Maharashtra.

On the outcome of the meeting of the Vidarbha group with the party’s senior leaders, he said party general secretary Motilal Vora had assured that he would discuss the issue at length.

The Congress leaders in Vidarbha have begun exerting pressure on the Chief Minister as well as the party high command to take decisive steps to grant statehood to the region. Although the issue had been raised periodically, certain Congress leaders have begun lobbying heavily for the introduction of a bill in the assembly to grant statehood to Vidarbha.

Reacting to Deshmukh’s vitrolic, Adik said the decision in this regard was to be taken by party president Sonia Gandhi and hence he would not comment on it. "A responsible minister should not make such a statement," he said.

"We can’t take any decision in haste. After all, the people of Maharashtra have fought hard to create a state for the Marathi-speaking population. The feelings of the people from the rest of Maharashtra will have to be taken into consideration," he said.

Significantly, the meeting of the state cabinet, supposed to be held on Thursday, was cancelled late in the evening. The reason cited by the Chief Minister’s staff was that Deshmukh was in New Delhi and unlikely to return in time.