UP Cong favours 4 divisions of state Rahul targets PM over ‘chowkidaar’ campaign

THE STATE CONG HAS SUGGESTED THAT THE PROPOSAL TO DIVIDE U.P. INTO FOUR SMALLER STATES FOR BETTER GOVERNANCE BE INCLUDED IN MANIFESTO

NEWDELHI: The Congress in Uttar Pradesh favours division of the country’s most populous state into four smaller states for better governance and to address the existing disparities between these regions.

The UP Congress has suggested that the proposal to divide the country’s politically and electorally important state into Purvanchal (east), Awadh Pradesh (central part), Paschim Pradesh (west) and Bundelkhand be incorporated in the party’s manifesto for the April-may Lok Sabha elections, a leader familiar with the development said.

“We have suggested that this should be a part of the national manifesto. It is very important to divide UP into four states for better governance,” said a state Congress functionary on the condition of anonymity.

For Bundelkhand, the party has suggested that some parts from Madhya Pradesh should also be included in the proposed state. With this move, the Congress seeks to turn the tables on Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati who has been a strong votary of UP’S division.

As the UP chief minister, Mayawati had floated the idea of dividing UP into four states in 2011, a few months before the state assembly elections in 2012. She had argued that smaller states could be governed better.

Subsequently, the Uttar Pradesh assembly had in November 2011 passed the resolution by a voice vote and forwarded it to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre. But the BSP was voted out of power in 2012 and the proposal did not move ahead.

The BSP chief reiterated her demand in 2014 when the Lok Sabha cleared the bill for the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh into two states .

The Congress hopes to cash in on the sub-regional sentiments in its campaign in the state, where it has been out of power since 1989 and is desperately seeking a revival of its political fortunes.

But another Congress leader said his party had always been in favour of smaller states for equitable development. “We don’t want to upstage any individual or any party but are keen to see the progress of all the regions,” he added. BENGALURU: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’S “Main Bhi Chowkidaar (I, too, am a watchman)” campaign on social media saying Prime Minister Narendra Modi came up with it after he was “caught stealing public money”.

Top BJP leaders added the chowkidaar prefix to their Twitter handles after the Prime Minister launched the campaign on Saturday. Gandhi has targeted Modi using the slogan “chowkidaar chor hai (the watchman is a thief)” along with his allegation that the government bought overpriced Rafale fighter jets. The government has denied all allegations.

Ahead of the 2014 elections, Modi likened himself to a chowkidaar who would keep everyone honest. “When he became the PM, Modi said make me chowkidaar .Hedidnotsay make the whole country chowkidaar,” Gandhi said at a rally in Kalaburagi in the northern Karnataka. He accused Modi of being the chowkidaar of top businessmen.

State BJP spokesman, S Prakash, reacted to Gandhi’s criticism saying the Congress president was unable to understand the meaning of chowkidaar .“Of course, the Congress party will have a problem with those trying to rid society of evil,” he said.

Gandhi called the Rafale deal the world’s “biggest” and added the previous Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government insisted that the Bengaluru-based Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) be allowed to make the aircraft. “The first thing Modi did was that he went to France with Anil Ambani and changed the whole deal.”

The government and BJP have repeatedly denied any wrongdoings in the Rafale fighter jet deal and accused the Congress of running a disinformation campaign.

The Supreme Court in December rejected petitions seeking an investigation into the deal with France’s Dassault Aviation. The Indian and French government, Dassault, and Ambani’s Reliance Defence have all pointed out that Reliance is merely an offset partner of Dassault and was chosen by the French company. They have also clarified that Reliance will not be making the fighter jet.