The striking concurrence of viewpoints found an expression at Nitin Gadkari’s virtually secret meeting with Pranab Mukherjee.
BSP chief and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati’s pre-poll gambit to split Uttar Pradesh into four parts has found the Congress and the BJP on the same page.
The striking concurrence of viewpoints found an expression at BJP president Nitin Gadkari’s virtually secret one-on-one meeting with senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee. A lot of current political and economic issues figured in this discussion, even as there is an attempt both in the Congress and the BJP to play down its significance. Spokespersons from both the parties have virtually claimed ignorance about the meeting.
BJP deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha SS Ahluwalia on Wednesday made an attempt to play down its significance.
“We have always been for smaller states. The three small states — Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh — were formed during the NDA regime. These states have done better than bigger counterparts from which they were hived off,” Gadkari told the DNA after his meeting with Mukherjee.
“But in this case, Mayawati is merely using this as a ploy to cover-up her misrule. We cannot support this idea at all, but if there is an attempt to cave out smaller states after due consideration, through a commission or any other process like for Telangana, there we are all for it,” Gadkari added.
The Congress, too, has expressed the same opinion. Its spokespersons have maintained that Mayawati’s announcement and the subsequent hurried passage of a unanimous resolution by the state assembly are all gimmicks. They observed that there is a need to set-up a second States Re-organisation Commission as the issue of smaller states requires wider consultations among all the stakeholders belonging to different states.
A lot of state issues figured in the Gadkari-Mukherjee interaction, including the BJP’s concerns over the problems of revenue sharing in a GST regime. One of the issues flagged is the states’ concern over the possible delays on the part of the Centre to transfer of state share, and then may even have to face a situation where they are hamstrung even to the extent that they cannot pay their employees’ salaries.
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