Maharashtra can be forked into 3-4 parts: RSS ideologue

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) ideologue M G Vaidya has said that Maharashtra, among the country's biggest states by area and population, could be divided into "three to four parts".

Vaidya was talking to a news channel here on Saturday.

"It is my opinion that if the population of Maharashtra is around 11-12 crore, then it can be divided into three to four parts," Vaidya, a former RSS spokesperson, said.

Spread over 307,713 square kms, the state is the third-largest in the area after Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

Its population of 11.2 crore, as per Census 2011, is the second-highest after Uttar Pradesh's 19.9 crore.

Vaidya had expressed the same opinion in 2016 as well, at the time claiming the ideal population of a state was "three crore" and to achieve this, smaller states needed to be formed.