Maya moves to slice UP into 4, stumps rivals-ToI-16.11.11

UP Cabinet’s Nod To Bring Proposal In Winter Session

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief minister Mayawati stumped her rivals on Tuesday by spelling out her gameplan to carve four smaller states from the “most populous and… administratively cumbersome UP”. Her Cabinet endorsed the decision to bring out a proposal in the winter session to split the state into four parts – Purvanchal, Paschim Pradesh, Bundelkhand and Awadh Prant: a move which will diminish the political heft that the mammoth province enjoyed by virtue of being home to 80 Lok Sabha seats and render irrelevant the political adage that the road to Delhi passed through UP. 
    Addressing mediapersons on Tuesday, the CM slammed the NDA and UPA regimes for “neglecting the long-standing legitimate demand for splitting UP” and promised to ensure its passage during the winter session that starts on November 21. 
    The opposition was quick to denounce Mayawati’s move as a clever ploy to divert people’s attention from issues like crime and corruption. 
UTTAR PRADESH TO LOSE ITS SWAGGER? 
It used to be said that one who controls UP controls India, because the state sends 80 MPs to Parliament. This won’t be the case if UP is divided 4 ways. Maharashtra will become the biggest state with 48 MPs. But who stands to gain/lose in a 4-way split of UP? 
BSP: Possibly the biggest gainer as it has influence in all 4 regions. So, from controlling 1 state (UP), it can hope to control 2, if not 3. Plus, with the division proposal, Mayawati has changed the political discourse on poll-eve and shifted focus away from her alleged misrule 
Samajwadi: Won’t be unhappy. It is strong in Central UP where it can hope to be lead player and main opposition to BSP in East UP 
Congress: No visible gain. Like BSP, has influence in all 4 regions, but it’s far too thin for meaningful impact 
BJP: Marginalized in UP, it might feel happier as it still retains influence in West UP and has some presence in Bundelkhand Maya move a poll stunt: Mulayam 
    Besides the hope of changing the pre-poll narrative, Mayawati appears to have been guided by the consideration that the reorganization of Uttar Pradesh would not hurt her politically, given that BSP’s core constituency of dalits is evenly spread across the regions: an assurance that others lack. 
    Mayawati said BSP had always been in favour of smaller units and states and this explained the host of new districts, divisions and tehsils set up during her tenure. She had floated the idea just after taking over in May 2007 and had pursued it by writing to the prime minister a number of times. “The issue has been ignored consistently by the UPA government,” she said. 
    Blaming UP’s gigantic size and burgeoning population for slow-paced development and law and order issues, the CM revealed how she proposed to change UP’s map by carving out four states. 
    “This is an election stunt to befool the people of the state and also a political conspiracy,” SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav told reporters. SP, which is the main opposition in the state assembly, will oppose such a move tooth and nail when the resolution is introduced in the House as the party is strongly opposed to creation of smaller states, he said.