BJP will create Vidarbha state if it comes to power: Nitin Gadkari

NAGPUR: BJP leader Nitin Gadkari today said here that if his party came to power at the Centre, it would create the separate state of Vidarbha.

It was BJP-led NDA which had formed the new states of Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh during its rule, he said.

Gadkari himself hails from Nagpur, the main city of Vidarbha region of Maharashtra.

He arrived here today and met Ashish Deshmukh who had launched an indefinite strike for Vidarbha state on December 6. Deshmukh received lime juice at Gadkari's hands to end his fast.

State BJP president Davendra Phadanvis, a vocal supporter of the demand for a separate state, was also present.

Ashish, who is the son of former Maharashtra Minister and former state Congress chief Ranjeet Deshmukh, had earlier said that now was the right time for carving out the new state in the wake of the Centre's nod for Telangana.