Decision on UP division after polls?
While Uttar Pradesh chief minister and BSP supremo Mayawati played her card of dividing the state into four parts, the Centre is unlikely to pay much heed to the proposal ahead of the assembly polls.
While Uttar Pradesh chief minister and BSP supremo Mayawati played her card of dividing the state into four parts, the Centre is unlikely to pay much heed to the proposal ahead of the assembly polls.
Law minister Salman Kurshid indicated that the Centre may return the proposal that was passed in the state assembly amid ruckus on November 21, on the ground that the assembly polls are due.
“It would not be improper to ask the Mayawati government to wait for the elections. We can always ask the state to get a resolution passed in the new assembly,” Khurshid told HT.
The Uttar Pradesh government’s proposal aims to divide the state into Purvanchal, Bundelkhand, Awadh Pradesh and Paschim Pradesh. Constitutionally, only the Centre can reorganise boundaries of states.
While the Congress has already announced that is not averse to the proposal for creating four states, it has dubbed Mayawati’s move as a political gimmick ahead of the polls.
Taking a leaf from the approach of the outgoing Supreme Court judges, Salman told HT, “Often you can see an outgoing chief justice not giving a verdict on a vital issue and preferring to wait till the new judge takes over.”
“In the case of UP, the Centre can always wait till the new assembly is constituted. Also, there is no compulsion that the Centre has to hurriedly form its opinion and reply to the state government,” Khurshid said.
Top government sources said the manner in which the resolution was passed can also be a matter of examination before taking the next step. “When the Privy Purse was abolished during Indira Gandhi’s regime, the bill was passed in two minutes. It was a private member bill but the government agreed on the issue and brought its own legislation. But it was done with the support of other parties,” said a senior Cabinet minister.