Fulfill promises for Vidarbha dev: Ranjeet Deshmukh

Nagpur: Former Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Ranjeet Deshmukh has criticised the state leadership for ignoring the development of Vidarbha.

Criticising the grand centenary celebrations for the first chief minister of Maharashtra, Yeshwantrao Chavan, Deshmukh said development of Vidarbha and fulfillment of promises made to people of the region would be a befitting tribute to the late leader, according to a release issued here.

When Maharashtra was carved out in 1960 and Vidarbha was merged in it, the state leadership entered into a pact - the `Nagpur agreement` for taking several steps towards all round development of Vidarbha region, he reminded.

Overall development of Vidarbha, second capital status to Nagpur, shifting of 16 important state offices from Pune to Nagpur were some of the major issues in the 11-point agreement, he mentioned. But today, Vidarbha is a picture of neglect with fiscal backlog running into Rs 70,000 crores, he regretted.