By IANS,
Bhopal : The Gondwana Gantantra Party (GGP), launched in 1991 to revive the Gond identity as a unified voice, has split again – for the fourth time in two years, with former legislator Manmohan Shah Batti announcing a new political outfit, Gondwana Party of India (GPI).
Having announced the launch of the new outfit on Republic Day at Chhindwara, Batti, however, refused to divulge the reasons behind taking such a step.
The newly-launched party would contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in 14 states including Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya, Punjab, Haryana, Jharkhand, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Delhi, he said.
“My party would contest in 14 states on issues of water, forest and land, and would work towards the creation of a separate Gondwana state that includes Vidarbha”, he told IANS by phone.
Batti also said his party favoured providing 50 per cent reservation to women and demanded that the central government should grant constitutional status to ‘Gondi’ language, religion and culture.
A meeting of national- and state-level office-bearers of the GPI would be held at Bhopal on Feb 10 to chalk out strategy for strengthening the party in view of the Lok Sabha elections, he said.