Gadkari, Fadnavis always batted for Vid

Nagpur: BJP chief Amit Shah’s stance on Vidarbha statehood is likely to cause most embarrassment to the two biggest BJP leaders from Vidarbha – union transport minister Nitin Gadkari and chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. Both have several times publicly taken a stand in favour of separate Vidarbha. Fadnavis has even taken an active part in Vidarbha statehood movement even though Gadkari has not shown any initiative on his own.
During 2001 winter session in Nagpur, Fadnavis had said in the state assembly that those in favour of united Maharashtra should leave Nagpur. He was made to apologize for this statement but he became a celebrity among pro-Vidarbha citizens for his bold stand. In January 2010, inspired by the Telangana movement, local leaders of Congress and BJP decided to renew the Vidarbha statehood movement. There was a series of agitations in which Fadnavis played a prominent role. Gadkari, however, gave only a token support.
Two months later BJP launched two youth awareness rallies. Devendra Fadnavis led the rally that started from Shegaon while Sudhir Mungantiwar led the one that began from Chandrapur.
In various public meetings that were held during the course of the rally, Fadnavis promised to fight for separate Vidarbha till the end. TOI was present at some of the meetings. The two rallies concluded at Nagpur. Gadkari presided over the conclusion function and promised to work hard till Vidarbha state was formed.
After that the statehood movement lost steam. Even though Gadkari gave a letter of support to Vidarbha statehood at the instance of activists just before 2014 Lok Sabha polls, he did not raise the issue on his own. In the run up to 2014 assembly elections, Fadnavis maintained a stand that creating Vidarbha was the prerogative of our national-level party and parliament.
However, when prime minister Narendra Modi said he would not allow the partition of Maharashtra, Fadnavis rushed to clarify that the PM had said that in context of Mumbai and not Vidarbha. After elections, Fadnavis maintained his earlier stand. Gadkari too took a safe stand.