File photo: Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi
Bihar has seven ministers in the Prime Minister's new expanded cabinet - and none of them will be allowed to enter their home state if its share of central funding is reduced - that was the curt warning issued today by Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi.
"I won't let union ministers into Bihar if the Centre makes new cuts to central grants," said Mr Manjhi today in the state capital of Patna.
Bihar votes next year for its new government - the Prime Minister's BJP is hoping to displace the ruling Janata Dal United, which is partly why the state saw its representation in the union cabinet jump to seven from five earlier this month.
Currently, Bihar gets 15,000 crores from the union government. This has been reduced to 12,000 crores over the last few months.
Different political parties in Bihar have been lobbying for "special status" which would entitle the state to massive financial assistance from the union government to help it overcome its sub-standard development as compared to other parts of the country.
In the general election in May, the Janata Dal United won just two of the state's 40 seats; the BJP won 22. That humiliating tally prompted the resignation of Nitish Kumar as Chief Minister; he picked Mr Manjhi as his replacement.
Mr Manjhi, 68, says he could soon play a bigger role in politics. "I may become the prime minister of the country like I became the chief minister," he said today.
Alleging that his critics target him because he belongs to the economically backward Mahadalit community, he said, "Powerful people laugh at me and they make fun of me as to how I became the chief minister."