"Nitish Kumar Not Uttering Even A Word": Tejashwi Yadav Over Bihar Special Status

Claiming that the BJP-led Centre has "deceived the people of Bihar" by not giving Special Status to the state, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Thursday blasted Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for "not uttering even a word" over the issue.

The former deputy CM said that the RJD knew beforehand that the BJP-led NDA government would not give the Special Status to Bihar.

"We knew beforehand that BJP-NDA will not give Special Status to Bihar and that JD(U) too is doing drama. With just a small amendment, other poor states like Bihar can be given Special Status. Big amendments have been made earlier too. It is our long-standing demand...NDA has deceived the people of Bihar. CM used to say that he would agitate and hit the streets. Now, the CM is not uttering even a word over Special Status to Bihar," Mr Yadav told ANI.

Notably, the Centre has recently rejected JD(U)'s request for 'special category' status for Bihar.

He further attacked the Bihar Chief Minister, claiming, "It is true corruption has risen a lot under Nitish Kumar's governance...If probed fairly, Nitish Kumar too would bear the brunt of it."

Earlier, senior JD(U) leader and Union Minister Rajiv Ranjan (Lalan) Singh expressed satisfaction with the allocation of funds for Bihar in the Union Budget 2024 and said that the budget has plenty of packages for the state in every sector, such as infrastructure, tourism or irrigation.

"We had demanded special status or a special package for Bihar. Today's budget has an abundance of packages for Bihar. Whatever sector you look at--be it strengthening infrastructure, developing tourism or irrigation--there is an abundance of schemes in every sector. After the implementation of these schemes, Bihar's growth rate will go up," Mr Singh said.

Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary, in a written reply in Lok Sabha, has said that special status cannot be granted to Bihar as per the Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) report 2012.

"The Special Category Status for plan assistance was granted in the past by the National Development Council (NDC) to some States that were characterized by a number of features necessitating special consideration. These features included (i) hilly and difficult terrain, (ii) low population density and/or sizeable share of tribal population, (iii) strategic location along borders with neighbouring countries, (iv) economic and infrastructural backwardness and (v) non-viable nature of State finances.

"The decision was taken based on an integrated consideration of all the factors listed above and the peculiar situation of the State. Earlier, the request of Bihar for Special Category Status was considered by an Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) which submitted its Report on March 30, 2012. The IMG came to the finding that based on existing NDC criteria, the case for Special Category Status for Bihar is not made out," Mr Chaudhary said on Monday.

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