Pro-Vidarbha leaders stage demonstration in Nagpur

Nagpur, Mar 24 (ANI): Protesters demanding a separate Vidarbha state launched a 'jail-bharao' agitation here on Tuesday.

The leaders and activists under the banner of 'Vidarbha Rajya Sangram Samiti', assembled at the RBI square and were holding banners, placards, shouting slogans, raising support for creation of a separate Vidarbha.

Speaking to reporters, Nagpur MP Vilas Muttemwar said that the people of Vidarbha had been cheated and the protest reflected the anger of the people.

"We have been cheated. None of the generation is going to bear it any more. This is the anger of the people. This has been reflected through shutdown and Jail Bharo agiation. The government should interfere in it. It is the duty of every sensitive government," said Muttemwar.

Meanwhile, in Mumbai, outside the building of Maharashtra State Legislative Assembly, the pro-Vidarbha activists staged similar demonstration raising slogans.

Speaking to reporters Devendra Phadnis, a leader of Bharatiya Janata Party said that the government contention of clearing the backlogs vis-à-vis the development of Vidarbha carries no weight since the entire region had been neglected for the past five decades.

He justified the demand for separate Vidarbha by mentioning almost all the people's representative bodies like the Panchayat (village councils) and Municipalities had endorsed the move for creation of separate Vidarbha state.

"We have the support from all the Congress leaders. The government might have its own compulsion. Unless and until we get a yes from the High Command, we are going to Delhi to meet Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh. They might agree. They have said that firstly they will clear the backlog, the Chief Minister has given many schemes to clear backlogs of Vidarbha but people say that it has been fifty years and the backlog have yet not been cleared," said Phadnis. (ANI)