The Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party are now preparing for another face-off on the Bundelkhand issue. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi will jointly address a rally in Banda district in Bundelkhand and will announce a developmental package for the region.
The Congress, apparently, wants to take the credit for the development of the region when exactly a year is left for the Assembly elections.
The BSP is also gearing up to counter the Congress impact with a series of rallies in the region in May.
The ruling Bahujan Samaj Party, it may be recalled, has been blaming the Congress for lack of development in the Bundelkhand region since the past four years. Shortly after being sworn in as chief minister in May 2007, Ms Mayawati has sent a letter to the Prime Minister, seeking a financial package of `80,000 crore for the development of the state, including Bundelkhand.
The lack of response from the Centre on the package has been repeatedly used by the Mayawati government to flog the Congress and blame the lack of development in the region on the Central government.
Bundelkhand, incidentally, has always been a bone of contention between the Congress and the BSP. The battle began in 2008 when Mr Rahul Gandhi started visiting Bundelkhand and began pointing out the lack of development in the region. His visits endeared him to dalits in the region and also renewed the demand for separate statehood for Bundelkhand.
The Mayawati government, later, opposed the proposal to form a Bundelkhand Development Authority by the Centre, terming it as an infringement of the state’s authority.