States reorganisation on Cong radar
The Congress is planning to formally urge the central govt to set up the second State Reorganisation Commission (SRC) to look into the demands for creating new states.
By C L Manoj, TNN |
NEW DELHI: With the general elections and the Assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh around 15 months away, the Congress central leadership is planning to formally urge the Manmohan Singh government to set up the second State Reorganisation Commission (SRC) to look into the demands for creating new states. The move, with an eye on the demand for a separate Telengana state, is bound to intensify the pending demands for separate states in other parts of the country as well.
“The Congress leadership is actively considering the setting up of a second SRC soon to look into the demand for creating a separate Telengana state. The second SRC could also study demands for new states from some other parts of the country too,” a senior Congress leader said. The move is meant to take the sting out of the TRS political plank, now also backed by the BJP, ahead of the next Assembly polls in AP.
It remains to be seen whether the UPA regime will actually fix a time-frame for the SRC to make its proposals ahead of the polls. Incidentally, the move for a second SRC was briefly mentioned during the recent Congress Working Committee meeting.
A formal move on a second SRC would also activate the pending demands for separate states in regions like Vidarbha, Bundelkhand and Western Uttar Pradesh (Harit Pradesh). BSP leader Mayawati has also favoured the trifurcation of Uttar Pradesh.
The CPM, having faced a violent agitation for Gorkhaland in West Bengal, has been opposed to the idea of carving out separate states while the CPI has of late has softened its stand on the demand for a Telengana state. The NCP also remains lukewarm to the demand for Vidarbha statehood even though the party, unlike Congress, has no major influence in the region.
The issue of creating smaller states has been a matter of debate within the Congress leadership even though the party, in its election manifesto for the last AP Assembly poll, had favoured such a course to address the demand for Telengana statehood. While the CMP of the UPA-Left had skirted a commitment on the SRC, it had set up a sub-committee under the chairmanship of Pranab Mukherjee to look into the Telengana issue. However, the sub-committee could not make any concrete proposal on the matter due to lack of consensus. This has now led the Congress to mull the option of SRC.
The first state reorganisation commission, set up by the Nehru cabinet in 1954 under Justice Faizal Ali, led to the creation of several new states on linguistic grounds. One of its members, K M Panicker, had submitted a dissenting note, seeking the bifurcation of Uttar Pradesh. This was not accepted by the then Union cabinet.
The last time when new states were created was in 2000 when the NDA regime okayed the creation of Uttaranchal (now Uttarkhand), Jharkhand and Chattisgarh.
“The Congress leadership is actively considering the setting up of a second SRC soon to look into the demand for creating a separate Telengana state. The second SRC could also study demands for new states from some other parts of the country too,” a senior Congress leader said. The move is meant to take the sting out of the TRS political plank, now also backed by the BJP, ahead of the next Assembly polls in AP.
It remains to be seen whether the UPA regime will actually fix a time-frame for the SRC to make its proposals ahead of the polls. Incidentally, the move for a second SRC was briefly mentioned during the recent Congress Working Committee meeting.
A formal move on a second SRC would also activate the pending demands for separate states in regions like Vidarbha, Bundelkhand and Western Uttar Pradesh (Harit Pradesh). BSP leader Mayawati has also favoured the trifurcation of Uttar Pradesh.
The CPM, having faced a violent agitation for Gorkhaland in West Bengal, has been opposed to the idea of carving out separate states while the CPI has of late has softened its stand on the demand for a Telengana state. The NCP also remains lukewarm to the demand for Vidarbha statehood even though the party, unlike Congress, has no major influence in the region.
The issue of creating smaller states has been a matter of debate within the Congress leadership even though the party, in its election manifesto for the last AP Assembly poll, had favoured such a course to address the demand for Telengana statehood. While the CMP of the UPA-Left had skirted a commitment on the SRC, it had set up a sub-committee under the chairmanship of Pranab Mukherjee to look into the Telengana issue. However, the sub-committee could not make any concrete proposal on the matter due to lack of consensus. This has now led the Congress to mull the option of SRC.
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The first state reorganisation commission, set up by the Nehru cabinet in 1954 under Justice Faizal Ali, led to the creation of several new states on linguistic grounds. One of its members, K M Panicker, had submitted a dissenting note, seeking the bifurcation of Uttar Pradesh. This was not accepted by the then Union cabinet.
The last time when new states were created was in 2000 when the NDA regime okayed the creation of Uttaranchal (now Uttarkhand), Jharkhand and Chattisgarh.
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