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Mincing no words, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday declared that as long as he was in power he would not allow any division of Maharashtra.

Though he did not mention Vidarbha, does the PM's declaration also put paid to the talk of the decades-old demand for carving out a separate state Vidarbha from Maharashtra? It has been the BJP's stand to favour smaller States even though in this campaign Vidarbha has remained a non-issue for all parties. Those in favour of a separate Vidarbha had received a shot in the arm recently with the BJP splitting with Sena.

Campaigning for the State assembly election, Mr. Modi asserted that the 'land of Shivaji' would not be broken by any one. Mr. Modi's comments come in the heat of the state elections campaigning with the other four major parties in the poll fray--the Congress, NCP, Shiv Sena and MNS-targeting him for allegedly plotting to dilute Mumbai's commercial status or separating it from Maharashtra.

Dismissing as "lies," the Congress' charges that the BJP would divide Maharashtra, Mr. Modi at an election rally in Dhule, said:"I assure you no force can divide Maharashtra, till I'm in (power) in Delhi. Without Mumbai, Maharashtra is incomplete," Mr. Modi said. If any state has the capability of driving the country's growth, it is Maharashtra, he said.

Stepping up the offensive against Mr. Modi, MNS chief Raj Thackeray had accused him of cultivating a "hidden agenda" of splitting Maharashtra. Senior NCP leader and former PWD minister Chhagan Bhujbal had also commented that Mr. Modi was turning out to be the "PM of Gujarat" and would soon convert Mumbai into Ahmedabad.

In its mouthpiece, the Saamna, the Shiv Sena on Tuesday had attacked the BJP for failing to raise issues close to the Marathi heart. "Why don't they talk of Marathi asmita or a unified Maharashtra? the Sena asked.

While the two Senas have been opposed to any split of Maharashtra, in context of a separate Vidarbha, at the height of the debate on creation of the state of Telangana out of Andhra Pradesh, the then union minister and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar had said his party had no objection to Vidarbha.