Patna: Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on Monday to discuss the caste census. Nitish Kumar will lead an 11-member delegation, which will be attended by one representative each from political parties in the state. This information was given by Nitish Kumar after conducting a survey of the flood-affected areas of Samastipur district. He will leave for New Delhi tonight. The meeting is scheduled for tomorrow i.e Monday.
Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav is among those who will join him for the meeting.
On the other hand, on the question of BJP's electing Janak Ram as a member of the delegation, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said, "This is not an issue. Each party can nominate a person who is a member of any House of the Legislature. So all parties sent names accordingly. There will be 10 delegates besides me, all representing their respective parties."
Strong demand for caste census
It may be recalled that the demand for caste census started with a Statement of the Centre in Parliament last month proposing to calculate only the population of Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs). In states like Bihar, where OBCs have dominated politics since the Mandal era, there is a strong demand for caste census keeping in view the backward classes. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has repeatedly advocated conducting a caste census.