The Hindu : 'Cong. has an open mind on Vidarbha'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Aug 22, 2003

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'Cong. has an open mind on Vidarbha'

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI AUG. 21. Congress leaders from Maharashtra today took the opportunity of being in the capital to discuss the latest developments in the State Congress following the decision of two senior leaders, N.K.P. Salve and Vasant Sathe, to quit the party demanding the creation of a separate Vidarbha State.

The PCC chief, Ranjit Deshmukh, called on the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, and other AICC leaders including the general secretary, Vayalar Ravi, in the backdrop of the latest demand including the setting up of a separate PCC for the region. The Chief Minister, Sushil Kumar Shinde, is also understood to have met Ms. Gandhi. Mr. Ravi, who is in charge of the party affairs in the State, told The Hindu that the Congress had an open mind on the demand. "We have not closed it," he said adding that the AICC had been maintaining that the demand be kept on hold till the Assembly elections to the five States later this year.

The demand for a separate Vidarbha and the decision of Mr. Salve and Mr. Sathe to quit the Congress has spurred the party members in Andhra Pradesh to adopt a more strident posture on their demand for a separate Telengana and PCC. This also led to four MLAs sending in their resignation letters to Ms. Gandhi.

Asked whether the party would consider the possibility of the Maharashtra Government introducing a resolution in the State Assembly for a separate Vidarbha State, Mr. Ravi said the Congress was running a coalition Government.

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