Speaking to the media on her birthday, Mayawati said: “If the Centre agrees, the state government is ready to get a resolution adopted by the Vidhan Sabha seeking division of Uttar Pradesh into three parts — Poorvanchal, districts of western region and the Bundelkhand region.”

Pointing out that “it is not within the authority of the state government to divide... only the Centre can do this,” she said, “I will be grateful to the Government of India if it takes the initiative for the trifurcation of UP.”

Mayawati’s remarks came close on the heels of the demand by Congress to carve out a separate Bundelkhand. A delegation led by UP Congress Committee chief Rita Bahuguna-Joshi met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last week and demanded setting up of the Second States Reorganisation Commission for this.

Stating that the BSP had always favoured smaller states, Mayawati said: “The BSP did not oppose the creation of Uttarakhand too because the party follows the ideology of Baba Bhim Rao Ambedkar who always advocated small states.”

Besides unveiling two foundation stones (Ballia-NOIDA and NOIDA-Ballia) for the Ganga Expressway, the Chief Minister today announced various other development schemes:

• A Rs 1,600-crore action plan to tackle drought in Bundelkhand

• A health insurance scheme for people below poverty line

• An ultra-mega thermal power project of 4,000 MW with NTPC at Lalitpur

• A Centre for Good Governance in Lucknow

• A residential MahaMaya Inter-College at NOIDA

• A multi-speciality 200-bed Ambedkar Hospital in Greater Noida

Incidentally, both BSP and Congress believe that a division of UP into smaller states will help their political prospects. The BJP has always been a traditional supporter of smaller states. On earlier occasions too, Mayawati had declared support for UP’s division, but today she underscored it by going as far as to promise a resolution to this effect.

The Samajwadi Party, the principal opponent of the BSP in UP, is opposed to division of the state and that partly explains the political reason behind Mayawati’s position. The SP is likely to be weakened in the event of a division of state and all other parties hope to gain from it.

While Mulayam strongholds of central UP and Rohilkhand could be fragmented, Mayawati hopes the new demographic profile of smaller units could help her have a few chief ministers as she bids for the Prime Minister’s chair. Eastern UP and Bundelkhand have been traditional strongholds of Dalit politics while in the western region, the Dalit-Muslim combination could get her a head start. The Congress calculates that Muslims voters in the west and east could weigh more in smaller states.