Jaipur: In the backdrop Chief Minister Mayawati's reported plans to divide UP into four parts, BJP leader LK Advani on Friday said that new states should not be formed casually and more consultations were needed on the issue.
"On the division of Uttar Pradesh, I would say any decision should only be taken after consultations. Offhand nothing can be stated," he said, adding that it has already been divided into two parts as the demand for a separate Uttarakhand had been pending for a long time.
Replying to questions, Advani said, "States cannot be formed casually. We also formed three states. But the demand for those states had continued for a long time and after proper consultations and consideration, we worked towards the formation of those states (Chhatisgarh, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand)."
On the issue of formation of a separate Telangana, he said that this "demand has been there for 25-30 years, but in the past two years, it has been handled in such a way by the UPA government that many people have committed suicide. And in the past 35-40 days all work has come to a halt."
The BJP leader said that his party would raise the issue of black money in the Winter Session of Parliament and ask the government to reveal the steps taken to bring it back.
"Till now the information available raises concern that whatever steps the government has taken, have been taken to protect some people," he claimed.
Advani also suggested that simultaneous elections should be held for Lok Sabha and state assemblies as frequent polls hampered good governance.
Advani said, "The six years when we were in the government, we had repeated experience that at the time of any important decision, somebody would point out that don't take this decision as elections are set to happen in some particular state. That is why it had to be postponed.
"This affects governance. It is not good for good governance. I had once last year spoken on this subject to Manmohan Singh and Pranab Mukherjee. And they had said that they found the idea reasonable in principle. I said that why not discuss this further and ask other parties as well."
He recalled that when the Constitution was adopted in 1950, a decision had been taken that Lok Sabha and assembly election would be held every five years with the understanding that the polls would normally happen simultaneously.
Advani said after the initial phases of elections, Parliament and assembly polls got delinked.
"In America it is clear when the next election would be held. In England also the new government has begun considering that there should be a definite date for election to the House of Commons. Even in India, we should think and come to a decision on this aspect," he said.
He also demanded public funding of elections to reduce the role of money power.
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