Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. (File Photograph)
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today said in the "interest of Bihar", he was ready even to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "I would like to thank Narendra Modi for this wishes," Mr Kumar said soon after taking oath. "In the interest of Bihar, if I have to meet Mr Modi, I will do so."
The state government, he reiterated, will have to work with the Centre for the "welfare" of the state and the country. "We may be political opponents but in terms of development, we have to work in sync."
In an Op-ed written exclusively for NDTV.com hours before he took oath, Mr Kumar had mentioned the Special Category Status for Bihar, which he had been seeking since coming to power for the first time in 2005. But he had been repeatedly turned down by the erstwhile UPA government.
"The Central Government has the responsibility to bridge the yawning regional disparity of the country through supportive policy formulations. The Special Category Status is one such policy measure," he wrote. "Merely investing in Bihar to achieve parity in basic infrastructure of road, rail, power, education, and health will propel the state's economy."
Today, he also sought more Central funds for the development of the state.
Till recently, Mr Kumar had accused the BJP of scripting the political crisis of Bihar -- the party hopes to win majority in the assembly elections to be held later this year. The JD(U) had even said the crisis had worsened after former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi met Mr Modi in Delhi.
Mr Manjhi had insisted on hanging on to his post and in a surprise move, had stepped down hours before a trust vote on Friday after it became clear that even with BJP support, he would not be able to reach the halfway mark in Assembly.
Addressing the media, Mr Kumar also referred to his stepping down nine months ago after his party's poor performance in the Lok Sabha elections, naming Mr Manjhi as his successor. "I was given the mandate in 2005 and 2010. I resigned before the completion of my second term but I soon realised that people did not like that I resigned," he said.