Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Friday virtually confirmed the government’s reported plans to set up a Second States Reorganisation Committee (SRC) when he told Mahila Congress president Rita Bahuguna Joshi that the issue is under consultation by the Cabinet.
Joshi said the Prime Minister told a Congress delegation comprising herself, AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh and several leaders from Uttar Pradesh about the issue being under consultation in the Cabinet.
The delegation, Joshi said, had gone to press for inclusion of the demand for a separate Bundelkhand state in the ambit of the SRC. AICC media department chairman Veerappa Moily has been earlier quoted as saying in Hyderabad that the SRC would consider the demands for formation of Telengana and Vidarbha states.
Asked whether Congress was for dividing UP to set up the states of Harit Pradesh and Poorvanchal, Joshi said, “We are not against smaller states.” According to Congress sources, carving out these states out of UP would diminish the political powers of both Mayawati-led BSP and Mulayam Singh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party, helping Congress to revive itself.