Muttemwar said, ``We are not demanding any new state. We just want restoration of Vidarbha state which was granted by the States Reorganisation Commission in 1950's.'' Muttemwar, who is spearheading the agitation for a separate Vidarbha, has turned 50. In an interview with The Indian Express, he said, ``Let people give their verdict on this issue. A clear verdict, which will set at rest the controversy, ought to be raised by a handful of the opponents of Vidarbha state.''

He pointed out that leaders of all major political parties, barring Shiv Sena, have come out openly in support of the demand because they sincerely believe that people of Vidarbha want a separate state. It was the Bharatiya Janata Party which raised the issue and won the 1996 Lok Sabha polls.

Muttemwar said that however, the BJP leaders soon forgot theissue and started finding excuses for not taking it up. So people the people elected the Congress and Republican Party of India candidates from all 11 Lok Sabha constituencies in this region in 1998 polls. The Congress leaders made a commitment in September 1996 to fight for the cause of Vidarbha. The election results are a clear indication of the extent of support for a separate Vidarbha, he said.

When his attention was drawn towards voices of dissent from Congress leaders, including former minister Vasantrao Dhotre and former Akola Municipal Chief Daddy Deshmukh, Muttemwar said they should have consulted the pro-Vidarbha leaders before making any public statement on the sensitive issue. If they have any apprehensions that Akola district would not get its due after formation of a separate Vidarbha, Muttemwar said that the people were prepared to accept them as leaders and install Dhotre as Chief Minister and Deshmukh as Finance Minister.

According to him, they seemed to have missed a vital point. Theagitation for separate Vidarbha is no longer being run by any individual. It is the collective effort of Congressmen from all districts to raise it at the national level. All those supporting the cause participated in district level dharna and also attended the regional level meeting held at Yavatmal. From the presence of leaders in big numbers at the agitation programme, the only conclusion is that a majority of Congress leaders are staunch supporters of Vidarbha state. Those raising their voices against this should have noted this point, he felt.

On the issue of economic viability, he said Vidarbha is rich in minerals and forest resources, it has coal reserves to produce 8000 MW electricity and its rivers have remained untapped. ``Take the example of Haryana. It has developed by leaps and bounds within two decades of being separated from the erstwhile Punjab. If a state like Haryana with much less resources can achieve so much, then there is absolutely no danger of Vidarbha state becoming economicallyunviable,'' he forcefully argued.

About the issue of preserving the state of Marathi-speaking people, he said there is no harm in having two separate states of Marathi-speaking people. He also ridiculed those saying that the formation of smaller states amounted to a threat to national unity. If it was not threatened by creating the separate states of Uttaranchal, Vananchal and Chhattisgarh, then how can it be threatened by creating one more smaller state, he asked. Muttemwar said Vidarbha's case has been explained to a committee set up by Congress party to study the demand for smaller states.