Last-minute politicking, which saw former union ministers N K P Salve and Vasant Sathe withdrawing from the separate Vidarbha movement and rejoining the Congress, could not stop thousands from cheering the formation of a new outfit, the Vidarbha Rajya Party (VRP), created to take the cause to its logical end.
Led by former Congress MP and newspaper baron, Banwarilal Purohit, the new party announced its constitution at a press conference held ahead of a mammoth rally here on Tuesday.
The rally, held at the spacious Vasant Rao Deshpande hall, had crowds spilling out on the huge parking lot and the streets giving the police some difficult moments.
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It had the participation of former Union Minister, Ajit Singh, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MP, Datta Meghe, President of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), Dr. K. Chandra Shekar Rao and leader of the separate Bundelkhand movement, Babulal Tiwari besides several former Congressmen from Vidarbha.
The two senior leaders, Salve and Sathe, who had grabbed national headlines on August 17 when they resigned from the Congress along with Purohit, also organised another rally of Congressmen at a much smaller IMA Hall.
The Congress meet was a thinly attended affair though local MP, Vilas Muttemwar, who has so far not taken any position on the separate statehood issue, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) President, Ranjit Deshmukh and Rajya Sabha MP and newspaper baron, Vijay Darda shared the dais with Salve and Sathe.