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Diverging Tracks
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STATES: MADHYA PRADESH

Intense Lobbying

	"I am only backing the demands of the people." Rajendra Prasad Shukla, Speaker, Chhattisgarh Assembly
	PRO-CHHATTISGARH # Amarkantak depends on Pendra, a Chhattisgarh district, for business needs. # The people prefer Chhattisgarh as it has better infrastructure, be it roads or power. # Richer mineral deposits in the state, so economic opportunities for people.
	"Amarkantak will remain a part of the Vindhyas." Sriniwas Tiwari, Speaker, Madhya Pradesh Assembly
	PRO-MADHYA PRADESH
	# Amarkantak was never a part of the Chhattisgarh region. # A dispute over the pilgrim centre will add another state to the Narmada tangle. # There is an organised movement to oppose Chhattisgarh's demand.

The pro-Chhattisgarh lobby has found a strong advocate in the state's Speaker Rajendra Prasad Shukla, who is preparing to exploit the situation for political advantage. Kota, his assembly constituency, is right next door and he would like Amarkantak included in it to better safeguard his electoral interests. Shukla also has strong links with several ashrams in the pilgrim centre. By raising the issue he may succeed in creating a popular image for himself in his own constituency. "I am only backing the demand of the people as they are dependent on Pendra for their various needs,'' he says.

The Chhattisgarh Government is backing Shukla's efforts. The state Forest Department has been proactive in mapping district borders, and forest rangers and revenue officials have been quick to erect pillars and barbed-wire fencing. While laying the foundation stone for a railway guest house in Amarkantak Chhattisgarh Governor D.N. Sahay is believed to have assured the people that it would soon be brought into the state's fold. Shukla was with the governor on the occasion.

This sparked off protests in Shahdol and Rajendragram, the block headquarters. Leaders from both the BJP and the Congress took up cudgels for retaining Amarkantak in Madhya Pradesh. "As the constitutional head Sahay should have desisted from making such provocative statements,'' says Lallu Singh, former BJP MLA from Shahdol. But Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi too has supported the informal demand to begin procedures to include Amarkantak in the state.

All this manipulation by Chhattisgarh politicians has infuriated Sriniwas Tiwari, Speaker of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly, who is heading a movement for the formation of a separate Vindhya Pradesh. "We will not tolerate attempts by any Chhattisgarh leader to take way Amarkantak. It has always been an integral part of the Vindhyas and will remain thus,'' he says. Though agitators are not as yet fighting police barricades or leading huge rallies to the state capitals, the peaceful manner of Chhattisgarh's formation has made Amarkantak locals hopeful that one day they will be allowed to merge with the new state. Meanwhile Madhya Pradesh is hoping that improved roads and power supply will quell any demand for Amarkantak's merger with Chhattisgarh.

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