Mayawati backs demand for Harit Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Friday jumped on the bandwagon demanding the creation of smaller states, declaring  that carving Harit Pradesh and Bundelkhand from parts of UP was a 'feasible' idea.

"I have written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, urging him to grant clearance for the creation of two more states, Bundelkhand and Harit Pradesh, out of an unmanageable Uttar Pradesh," Mayawati told a press conference in Lucknow.

Mayawati's latest salvo -- the demand for trifurcating a state by the ruling CM -- is bound to cause more trouble for the United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre. While it has faced wide-spread opposition to its decision to create Telangana, the government had also been inundated with demands for several new states, including Gorkhaland in West Bengal, Vidarbha in Maharashtra and Maru Pradesh in Rajasthan.

"Since the Centre has already given its nod for carving out a separate Telangana out of Andhra Pradesh, there is enough reason to follow the same exercise in UP, where the demand for an independent Bundelkhand and Harit Pradesh have been raised for a long time," the UP CM said.

"I was always in favour of smaller states as they are much simpler to govern," she said, adding, "I have expressed these views on several occasions in the past as well."

"Earlier, in 2007, I had sent a letter to the PM, urging him to consider the demand of the
people of Bundelkhand and of western UP," Mayawati claimed.

Asked if she will move a resolution in this regard in the state assembly, Mayawati shot back, "I will do so once the Centre gives its approval in principle."

But she appealed to the people of the two regions against indulging "in any activity that  is likely to disturb the law and order situation in the state."