JOIN USBSP supremo Mayawati on Monday sought to woo the electorate in eastern Uttar Pradesh, where polling would be held in the last two phases next week, by promising to work for the establishment for a separate state of ‘Poorvanchal’.
Mayawati, addressing election rallies at Deoria and Kushinagar, also accused the BJP of turning a blind eye to the attacks on the people from this region in Mumbai and elsewhere in Maharashtra by the Shiv Sena, which was an alliance partner of the BJP.
“The Shiv Sena is an alliance partner of the BJP... BJP remains silent on the attacks,” she said. “This region (Poorvanchal) is very backward... we will work for dividing UP into four parts, including a separate state of Poorvanchal,” she said.
Mayawati had raked up the issue of the division of UP when she was in power in 2007, and had also got the state Assembly to pass a resolution carving the states of Harit Pradesh, Poorvanchal, Avadh (central UP) and Bundelkhand. While BJP and RLD supported the division, SP had expressed opposition to the idea.