Satpal Maharaj says he played key role in Uttarakhand formation

Pauri MP Satpal Maharaj, who recently defected to BJP, on Wednesday claimed that he had played a vital role in the formation of Uttarakhand.

On his first visit to BJP headquarters in Dehradun after joining the party in Delhi earlier this month, he said he as an MP and a Union Minister had knocked at the doors of then Prime Ministers HD Deve Gowda and IK Gujral and West Bengal CM Jyoti Basu to press for the creation of separate Uttarakhand.

When the Centre was contemplating granting a Union Territory status to Uttarakhand in 1996, it was he who had convinced Deve Gowda that the demand for a separate state of Uttarakhand will keep raising its head if it was granted just a UT status, the Pauri MP said.

"It was due to my efforts that Gowda accepted the proposal to grant statehood to Uttarakhand and made an announcement in this regard from the ramparts of the Red Fort on August 15, 1996. However, before it could happen political circumstances changed and IK Gujral became the Prime Minister," he said.

Maharaj said he then met Gujral and reminded him that his daughter-in-law was also from Uttarakhand and he should appreciate the need for statehood to it.

"Gujral accepted my request and made an announcement in this regard from the Red fort on August 15, 1997," he said.

He said Jyoti Basu who was the Chief Minister of West Bengal then put his foot down opposing creation of a separate Uttarakhand as the demand for Gorkhaland which was older would gain momentum.

It was Vajpayee-led NDA government that finally did it in the year 2000, he said.

Referring to the massive strategic build-up by China near the Indian borders, Maharaj said that with hostile neighbours like China and Pakistan only a strong leader like Narendra Modi should be India's s prime minister.