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Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani on Thursday said he would take up the railway zone bifurcation issue with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
"It is not a question of individuals....Nitish Kumar or Mamata Banerjee. It is a question of the government as a whole. We would not like any decision to affect relations between the two states [West Bengal and Bihar]," Advani told reporters after meeting an all-party delegation from Bihar in New Delhi.
"How we deal with it is a matter for the prime minister or the Cabinet to decide," he said in reply to a question.
Advani said Defence Minister and National Democratic Alliance convenor George Fernandes would return to Delhi on July 13 and the matter could be taken up only after his return.
The delegation from Bihar also met Railway Minister Nitish Kumar.
"We had positive and satisfactory talks with Advani, who was of the view that the decision [to bifurcate East Central Zone] was taken by the Cabinet and it was not a Bihar versus West Bengal issue," Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Ramchandra Purve told reporters.
PTI
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