nagpur vidarbha statehood activists protested the injustice meted out to the region and to demand statehood in a novel way they held a mock parliament on thursday it was an enactment of first assembly session of vidarbha state assuming that this had become a reality in 2014 while it was organized on a small scale the proceedings were quite close to the real ones the activists in the capacity of governor chief minister finance minister and leader of opposition slammed maharashtra government for its partisan treatment the charges were similar to what they level at other forums demand of vidarbha state pervaded the atmosphere at the venue parate hall many people had come to see it in spite of knowing that it was a symbolic protest some supporters wore gandhi caps having slogans in favour of statehood whenever any person participating in the mock assembly lashed out at maharashtra government he or she got tremendous support from the audience the 62 mlas representing each constituency had been finalized on wednesday those belonging to the ruling party vidarbha vikas party vvp elected chatap as the chief minister and then decided the cabinet ministers and ministers of state the opposition party vidarbha jan party vjp elected bonde as the leader of opposition the proceedings started with administration of oath to governor vedprakash vaidik senior journalist and ministers by chief justice umesh choubey and other formalities saroj kashikar exmla was elected as speaker the governor in his address to the assembly said that the government had chalked out a plan to develop vidarbha farmers were facing problems the youth of the region was migrating to other places due to lack of opportunities stressing that the government was committed to solve these problems he outlined the measures proposed by the ruling party the leader of opposition said that the governors address did not mention the number of farmers suicide which was 40000 and they were martyrs of vidarbha movement the address neither mentioned increasing the support price for crops nor free electricity for farmers unless these changes were incorporated in the address the opposition would not support it the cm said that government would seriously consider the suggestions offered by opposition and if necessary incorporate it in the governors address later finance minister shriniwas khandewale presented the budget for 201415 he said that the government had not increased any tax and had reduced electricity duty the expected expenditure was rs 41400 crore and overall it was a surplus budget of rs 110 crore the fm in his speech said that maharashtra government had exploited the region and his government had chalked out a plan to undo the damage and take the state forward