MP demands statehood for Saurashtra, Gujarat Congress says its personal opinion.
Even as Congress’ Porbandar MP Vithal Radadiya has demanded a separate state of Saurashtra, the state Congress has washed its hands off the issue.
Senior party leaders in Ahmedabad made it clear that it’s Radadiya’s personal opinion and the party would discuss the matter with him.
Two days after the UPA government gave its nod for a separate state of Telangana, Radadiya said: “I will formally represent the matter before the Center next week. We will do everything required to make the proposal.”
The Saurashtra Lokhit Sangathan Samiti, which was led by a former Congress minister, Mansukh Joshi from Rajkot City, had raised the issue for the first time many years ago.
According to Radadiya, the region consisting of seven districts — Rajkot, Porbandar, Junagadh, Jamnagar, Amreli, Surendranagar and Bhavnagar — has never been accorded just treatment.
Even though the region makes the biggest contribution to the exchequer, it has not seen much development. Barring petrochemical refineries in Jamnagar, the rest of the region is still industrially underdeveloped, he said, adding that the state government cannot take credit for Jamnagar’s development.
Whatever development has taken place in Kutch is due to foreign aid and tax holidays announced after the 2001 earthquake, his added. The MP said: “Even though the region’s economy is largely dependent on agriculture, there is still no proper irrigation facility. Besides, the future development of industries is limited between Vapi and Ahmedabad and not in Saurashtra.”
Bhavnagar MLA, Shaktisinh Gohil, who is also a Congress strongman from Saurashtra, refused to comment on the issue.
State party president Siddharth Patel called it Radadiya’s personal view not shared by the party.
No comments:
Post a Comment