Demand for a separate Vidharbha state begins in Nagpur

Nagpur, Dec 14 (ANI): Highly inspired by the success received to the Telangana region people, the virus of a separate state of Vidharbha has gained momentum.

The activists supporting the cause have disrupted the rail services in Nagpur after stopping the Mumbai-Nagpur express.

The agitation was led by a Vidharbha based youth organisation, which stopped the train for around thirty minutes when the train was approaching Nagpur.

Around 1000 activists, who assembled in demand for a separate Vidharbha state, blocked the rail traffic causing delays of several other trains plying in the same route.

Senior Congress MP Vilas Muttemwar wrote a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday, demanding a separate Vidharbha state.

Vilas Muttemwar had earlier said, "A section of leadership is against the (bifurcation) demands but has anyone thought of 7000 farmers suicide in Vidharbha from year 2004 and the backwardness of region has hindered the development of the state."

Blaming the Shiv Sena activists for playing with the emotions of the people over Marathi language issue, Muttemwar said Vidharbha lies in a Hindi belt and was merged with Maharashtra, when the then Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru asked the people residing in Central Province and Berar to join Maharashtra. (ANI)