Mayawati Promises Division Of Uttar Pradesh Into Four States If Voted Back To Power

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Mayawati has announced that if voted back to power, she will pursue the issue of dividing Uttar Pradesh into four smaller states like she had promised when she was the chief minister. At an election meeting in Gorakhpur, Eastern Uttar Pradesh, she said that the Poorvanchal region would not be able to develop unless it attained statehood, promising them that she would grant statehood to Poorvanchal, Harit Pradesh, Bundelkhand and Awadh if she was voted into power.

Blaming the ruling Samajwadi Party for the rising crime graph, she also asserted that law and order would cease to be a problem if smaller states are created, claiming that they would be easier to manage and govern.

Mayawati had first brought up the subject of division in her previous term as chief minister in 2007, with both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress supporting it. She had passed a resolution in 2011 during the last leg of her government to divide the state, but it lost track after she lost the 2012 elections.