Samajwadi Party supports separate Vidarbha

The Samajwadi Party would include creation of Vidarbha state in its manifesto for the October 13 assembly elections in Maharashtra.

"The SP is committed to Vidarbha state. We will contest 25 of the 66 seats in Vidarbha region," party state chief Abu Azmi told newspersons in Nagpur on Monday night. The party would field about 75 to 80 candidates across Maharashtra.

Alleging that efforts of forging unity among secular forces was thwarted by the Congress, Azmi claimed, "The Congress is hand in gloves with communal forces and hence did not offer a single seat in the Lok Sabha elections to secular parties nor is it keen on an alliance in the assembly polls."

To a query on the Tiranga Yatra, Azmi accused former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Uma Bharti and the Bharatiya Janata Party of causing communal tension.