Wider discussion required before splitting UP: Advani

It doesnt matter what chief minister has decided, says BJP leader

Advani said that the decision to spilt UP should have a background and it was needed to be discussed at length.

Although the saffron leader  remained non-committal on the issue and  added, “It should not be a decision (taken)in haste”.

Advani said it did not matter what Chief Minister Mayawati had decided in this regard.  He said that the re-organization of states was first done in 1954 on linguistic basis.

Subsequently, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh were carved out of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, which his party supported. “We had formed the three states when I was the Home Minister,” he said.

Yatra in Punjab

 Advani’s Yatra, which made its exit from Punjab on Thursday, was arguably an unimpressive show,  going by the number of people who had gathered to listen to the veteran leader despite the state being ruled by the BJP- Akali Dal alliance.

Issue avoided

The Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ravi Shankar Prasad, citing time constraint, wrapped up Advani’s press conference shortly after it started. Advani evaded a query on Operation Bluestar. His comment in his book had created a controversy of sorts which was the reason why he was greeted with black flags and eggs during his visit to Punjab by certain radical Sikh groups.

Leaderspeak

*  Statement comes after UP cabinet cleared a proposal to split country’s biggest state into four parts.
*  Saffron veteran appeals not to take any decision in haste.
*  Statement made by the BJP leader during his Rath Yatra in Punjab
*  Re-organisation of states first done in 1954 on linguistic basis.