Mayawati seeks creation of two more states

Lucknow: The top elected leader of India's most populous state has urged the federal government to divide the the state into three smaller provinces.

In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati urged New Delhi to create the new states for the sake of administrative efficiency.

Mayawati also read out the letter at a meeting of the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) workers in Lucknow yesterday to celebrate the 74th birth anniversary of the party's founder and her mentor Kanshi Ram.

This was her second letter to the prime minister demanding the truncation of the state.

Mayawati has reiterated her demand for the creation of Poorvanchal, Bundelkhand and a smaller Uttar Pradesh, including the western districts of the state.

Proposal

Her letter was in response to Singh's statement in Varanasi on Friday that the federal government would consider the creation of Poorvanchal if a proposal were to come from the Uttar Pradesh state legislature.

The BSP workers, who attended the meeting, vowed to "capture" New Delhi, by which they meant forming the federal government.

Mayawati has been making blistering attacks on the Congress party-led United Progressive Alliance government and accused it of not meeting the demands of her government.

Responsibility

The prime minister said the responsibility of implementing the federal schemes lay with the state government and it was not proper to blame the federal government for their improper implementation.

Singh had said in reply to a query that the implementation of federal schemes in Uttar Pradesh state was not satisfactory.

He said that the federal government was serious about mitigating the sufferings of the people of the Uttar Pradesh.

The prime minister said there was no dearth of funds but the onus of implementing the schemes was on the state.