New Delhi:
Amid rising demands for new states after the Telangana announcement, UPA ally Nationalist Congress Party has called for a second state reorganization panel to look into other statehood demands.
"It is time for a second state reorganization commission," Union Minister Praful Patel of the NCP told NDTV. "Telangana has now fueled hopes for Vidarbha and Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand have shown that smaller states can be successful."
Mr Patel's remarks come after a Congress MP from his state Maharashtra, revived the demand for a separate Vidarbha state.
The demand of statehood for Vidarbha is stronger and older than Telangana," said Vilas Muttemwar, a Congress MP from Nagpur and a member of the Congress Working Committee that finalised the decision to carve out Telangana from Andhra Pradesh.
The Congress co-governs Maharashtra with the NCP.
Mr Muttemwar, who has been elected to the Lok Sabha seven times, said he has written to party president Sonia Gandhi on Vidarbha, which has 11 districts, 21% of Maharashtra's population and is rich in natural resources.
But another UPA ally, National Conference (NC) has opposed new states. "An impression is going out that an agitation can lead to the creation of a new state. This is dangerous," said Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah of the NC.
Mr Abdullah said "If there is a need to create new states, the job should be entrusted to the States Reorganisation Commission."
Earlier today, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Mayawati called for a four-way split of India's most populous state Uttar Pradesh into Purvanchal, Bundelkhand, Awadh and Western Uttar Pradesh.
An agitation for a separate Gorkhaland is also simmering in the Darjeeling hills of West Bengal since Telangana became a reality.
The Congress Working Committee was expected to pass resolution on a new state reorganisation panel on Tuesday, but it was reportedly not taken up.