New Delhi: Former Union Ministers Vasant Sathe and N K P Salve on August 17 left the Congress and will be forming a regional outfit to strive for creation of a separate Vidarbha state.

Sathe said a "Vidarbha Rajya Nirman Congress" would be formed later in the day at a meeting at the residence of Salve in Nagpur.

"Our efforts to persuade the Congress leadership to agree to the just demand of carving out a separate Vidharbha out of Maharashtra has failed to yield result," he said.

PTI