The issue of division of Uttar Pradesh has once again come to the fore with the Aam Aadmi Party saying on Monday it will launch a movement to fulfill the long-standing aspiration of the people.
Uttar Pradesh accounts for the highest number of 80 Lok Sabha seats and it will hold a great significance in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
“Uttar Pradesh is a big state, both from the points of view of area and population. Its population is as much as that of any big country. It has become practically very difficult to govern such a vast state,” Aam Aadmi Party spokesperson Sanjay Singh told news agency PTI.
He added that his party supports the division of Uttar Pradesh into four parts.
“AAP is in favour of smaller states. It supports the division of Uttar Pradesh into four parts, and for this, it will go the extent of even launching a movement. The party will finalise its strategy soon,” he added.
On being told that other political parties have opposed division of the state, Mr Singh said that the BJP has been a supporter of formation of smaller states.
“People of Bundelkhand, Poorvanchal and Paschim Kshetra (western UP) have been demanding creation of smaller states for the last many years. This is a matter of public feeling and political parties must think about it seriously,” Singh, a Rajya Sabha member, said.
Aam Aadmi Party is of the view that for an effective law and order system and conducive conditions for growth, formation of smaller states is necessary.
This is not for the first time that the party has made its voice heard on the matter of diving UP, India’s most populous state.
On Saturday, AAP chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal too, advocated for the division of the state and said it has lagged in development because of its size.
“Uttar Pradesh should be divided into Awadh, Bundelkhand, Purvanchal and Pashchim Uttar Pradesh — four states. This is the people’s demand. And not only do we support it, we will struggle with the people of the state for the fulfilment of this demand,” Mr Kejriwal had said at an event in Noida.
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), headed by Mayawati, was once a strong supporter of the demand when the Samajwadi Party was in power, maintaining that smaller states could be governed better.
(With agency inputs)