A renewed demand for a special category status to Bihar has once again heated up the state politics, with Opposition parties seeking support of the ruling Janata Dal-United (JD-U) on the issue, instead of politicising the matter.
Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC) in-charge Shakti Singh Gohil, who arrived in Patna on Tuesday, said the Congress has been raising the demand and its stand has been very clear on the issue. "We believe that Bihar should get special category status and we will fight for it till it is fulfilled. If the JD-U wants to support us in this demand, they are welcome," he said.
Bihar's main Opposition party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), which has 80 MLAs in the 243-member Assembly, called the JD-U and its ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s stand on the special category status 'hilarious'. "BJP and JDU, both of the parties boast of dreamland's double engine, both pretend to support the demand for special status to Bihar, but none of them explains what is stopping Bihar from getting it's much demanded, much deserved special status and special package!," Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, the Leader of the Opposition in Bihar's Legislative Assembly, said on Tuesday.
He tweeted, "RJD has been vociferously raising the demand of special status since bifurcation of Bihar. But, Nitish Kumar opposed it when Vajpayee Ji was prime minister. He (Nitish) has used the issue as his pet political mileage cow! Raises it to raise his political prospects, forgets when the pasture is green!"
Even other parties, including the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), have asked CM Nitish Kumar to 'exert pressure' on PM Narendra Modi for granting special status to Bihar. The demand for Bihar's special category status was renewed at a recent all party meeting, in which JD-U leaders had called its denial as 'injustice to Bihar' and it was decided that a fresh case reiterating the demand will be put forth before the 15th Finance Commission.
ON DEMAND
Even other parties, including the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), have asked Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to ‘exert pressure’ on PM Narendra Modi for granting special status to Bihar
