The Bharatiya Janata Party supports statehood for Vidarbha but not Marathwada, Maharashtra BJP President Raosabheb Danve said on Saturday. “BJP has been demanding a separate Vidarbha for the past many years, but it is opposed to a separate Marathwada,” he said, adding that the party favoured the creation of smaller states.

Danve, who hails from Marathwada, also cited the examples of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand, which were constituted by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government. The statement was made during a meeting of the state unit of the BJP, during which a number of issues, including the drought in Maharashtra, was discussed, PTI reported.

On March 22, Shreehari Aney had resigned as the advocate general of Maharashtra after facing criticism for supporting the call for a separate state for Marathwada. Days later, Aney called for a referendum on the demand for a separate state of Vidarbha. He had ink thrown on him on March 31, during a public appearance at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. Aney was in the national capital to seek Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's support for statehood for Vidarbha.