BJP MLA slams party for ignoring Vidarbha’s needs

Mumbai: Dissident BJP MLA Ashish Deshmukh has slammed his own party's government saying that its developmental work has not been up to the mark for Vidarbha.

Mr Deshmukh has listed out the issues of Vidarbha and said that the government has not addressed them in the expected manner.

He announced a yatra through all 62 assembly constituencies of Vidarbha and demanded that it be recognised as a separate state. “When I was fasting for a separate Vidarbha state in 2013, Nitin Gadkari, Devendra Fadnavis and Sudhir Mungantiwar came and assured that once the BJP is in power, they would make Vidarbha as separate state. But nothing has happened. Vidarbha’s issues like farmer suicides and unemployment has become more serious now,” said Mr Deshmukh.

Mr Deshmukh, a first term BJP MLA from Katol, Nagpur has been coming down heavily on the BJP for the past three months. There is buzz that he may ditch the party joined Congress again.

When asked about the reason of his constant attack on the BJP government, Mr Deshmukh said, “I have fought two elections in my life and both on BJP’s symbol. My issues are genuine and I am more concerned about Vidarbha's progress and future. One should not see this through a political prism.”

Mr Deshmukh has started touring 62 constituencies of Vidarbha. He began his tour on January 7. The BJP had won 44 out of 62 assembly seats in the 2014 elections, which helped the saffron party hugely to be numero uno in Maharashtra.