Nitish Kumar Promises Special Status For All Backward States If Non-BJP Alliance Comes To Power At Centre

Nitish has been requesting special status for Bihar, referring to the loss of income and mineral wealth upon the creation of Jharkhand, for almost twenty years.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar (Source: File photo/PTI)

New Delhi: Nitish Kumar, the Chief Minister of Bihar and leader of Janata Dal-United, on Thursday said that if the power at the Center is changed, then provision of special status will be made to all the backward states including Bihar, as reported by news agency PTI. "If we get a chance to form the next government at the Centre, all backward states will get special category status. There is no reason why it cannot be done," said Kumar, who is now ruling the state as part of a seven-party coalition that comprises RJD, Congress and the Left.

Nitish has been requesting special status for Bihar, referring to the loss of income and mineral wealth upon the creation of Jharkhand, for almost twenty years. He has on many events shown the readiness to "support any government at the Centre" that satisfied the interest.

The JD(U) leader, who last week met many key political figures who went against the BJP in Delhi, likewise took a jibe at his former ally for weaning away legislators belonging to the Congress in Goa.

"It is well known who try to wean away people from other parties and what means are employed," he said in reply to a query about developments in the western coastal state, without explicitly referring to money changing hands.

Repeating that his long coalition with the BJP had been a "mistake", Nitish claimed that his siding with the opposition camp had left the saffron party jittery causing its leaders to "speak irresponsibly" against him.

He attacked his former deputy Sushil Kumar Modi for getting "sidelined despite sharing the surname with the prime minister" and lambasted Union minister Giriraj Singh for provocative comments about the shooting incident at the latter's Lok Sabha constituency Begusarai.

"These people seem hopeful of getting something from their (BJP's) top leadership as reward for launching a tirade against me. They are welcome to do so," remarked Nitish, who is longest serving Chief Minister of Bihar.

The CM said he was getting "regular updates" as to the sensational episode at Begusarai, where one individual was killed and many were harmed, and expressed confidence that the guilty will soon be identified and nabbed.

(With PTI Inputs)