After Nana Patole yet another BJP leader is looking for leaving the party as the party has gone completely silent on the issue of a separate Vidarbha state, an issue which BJP used to canvass votes during Lok Sabha and Maharashtra election.
Ashish Deshmukh, a BJP legislator from Katol near Nagpur, has set out on a ‘Vidarbha Atabal (self-respect) Yatra’ to press for the demand for a separate Vidarbha state.
“I have written to the Chief Minister reminding him of the promise of a separate Vidarbha the BJP had made in the run-up to the elections. But, it appears that he had forgotten the promise,” Deshmukh told reporters here.
He also pointed out the distress among the farmers and the recent pink bollworm infection that has destroyed the cotton crop in large parts of Vidarbha.
Earlier, BJP Lok Sabha member Nana Patole quit his seat and the party following a tiff with Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Maharashtra government’s approach in dealing with farmers’ issues. Patole later joined the Congress.
Swabhimani Paksha MP Raju Shetti, who was part of the NDA, walked away from the ruling alliance over the alleged apathy of the Modi government towards farmers.
“People are disenchanted with the BJP. I had invited leaders from all parties to join my yatra on strengthening Vidarbha.
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But, no BJP leader has responded,” Deshmukh, the son of former Maharashtra Congress chief Ranjit Deshmukh, said. Ashish joined the BJP in 2009 and contested defeated his uncle Anil Deshmukh, an NCP leader and a minister in the previous Congress-NCP government, from Katol assembly seat in 2014.
Deshmukh had embarked on the yatra on January 7 that will cover all the 62 assembly seats across 11 districts in Vidarbha.
“I will be guided by what the people of Vidarbha will tell me,” he said when asked whether he was planning to quit the BJP.
Deshmukh is getting ready to have a rally which will be attended by youth and farmers in Nagpur where he will explain his future plans.
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