PATNA: A day after CM Nitish Kumar’s statement that demand for special category status to Bihar has not been abandoned and that the Centre alone has to take the decision on it, major opposition parties RJD and Congress on Thursday said the former should stop confusing people on the issue, and stick to the demand as a senior minister in his cabinet had said quite the opposite.
The BJP, a major partner of the NDA government that Nitish leads, clearly saw on Thursday that the ball had been put back in the Centre’s court, and accordingly, maintained that the Centre would concede the demand and also give special status to Bihar “as and when the occasion comes”.
“In view of the future scenario, the demand for special status should not be abandoned. It cannot be granted in the present situation as the provision for it has been removed. Those states which have been enjoying special status will continue to enjoy it, but no new state can be given this status,” state BJP spokesman and former MLA Prem Ranjan Patel said.
Patel added if NITI Aayog recommends it and the National Development Council (NDC) – which actually grants it – also decides to resume the practice in the future, Bihar would stand the chance of getting special status.
He added that PM Narendra Modi had announced to give special status to Bihar, but the provision for it was abolished, and accordingly, the Rs 1.25-lakh crore worth of special package that he gave to Bihar was “worth much more than the benefits that could have been offered to the state through the special category status.”
However, the opposition parties were not convinced by the stand of Nitish and asked him to stick to the demand.
“The cabinet speaks in one voice, but a senior minister is saying one thing and the CM quite the opposite. The matter must have been in discussion at some level. That is why the minister has a different view,” RJD spokesman Chitranjan Gagan said adding that the CM made the U-turn after the opposition parties led by RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav assailed the government.
RJD MLA Bhai Birendra said, “Every demand of the state (central university status for Patna University, special category status and now caste census) has been turned down by the BJP-led government at the Centre. Nitish is with the BJP only to save his chair.”
Congress MLC and party’s media department head Prem Chandra Mishra said the CM was only confusing the people on the matter.
“Technically, the CM cannot unilaterally decide to abandon the special status demand, because it was passed by the state legislature in 2007 and the resolution for the same was sent to the Centre. If it has to be abandoned, the matter should come to the state legislature,” Mishra said.
