By IANS,
Lucknow: After her demand for trifurcation of Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Mayawati has now sought further partition of the state for carving out Purvanchal on the eastern part.
Mayawati, who Friday said she has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for creation of Bundelkhand and Harit Pradesh states, has now asked for Purvanchal region to be given statehood.
She has said further partition of Uttar Pradesh would “ultimately be in the larger interest of providing better governance, besides of course living up to the expectations of the people”.
Disclosing this at a press conference here Sunday, Mayawati’s blue-eyed Additional Cabinet Secretary V.S. Pandey said, “The chief minister today sent such a letter to the prime minister.”
Distributing copies of the letter, Pandey said: “The chief minister has sought to draw the prime minister’s attention to her past correspondence in which she had not only expressed her preference for smaller states, but also for carving out Purvanchal out of the state’s poverty-ridden eastern districts.”
In her letter, Mayawati has said, “No sooner we receive your nod for creation of Purvanchal than we will go ahead to adopt a resolution to that effect in the state assembly.”
She has also sought to remind Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about her already “long pending” demand for a special economic package for the development of the highly backward Purvanchal region. “My demand for sanction of a special economic package of Rs.80,000 crore for the development of the backward Purvanchal region has been pending with you for a long time,” she pointed out.
Citing her earlier letter to the prime minister of March 15, 2008, she has said, “Then too I had made it loud and clear that I was in favour of smaller states.”
“And subsequently on Oct 9, 2007, I had declared at a public rally in Lucknow that I was ready for creation of Purvanchal and Bundelkhand.”
She continued: “Considering the regional imbalances in a state like Uttar Pradesh and keeping in mind the sentiments of the people, besides of course in the larger interest of providing better governance, I would once again implore upon you to give your consent in principle for creation of a eastern state of Purvanchal; a formal resolution by the UP assembly will follow.”