BETIAH, BIHAR, Sept 19:
Describing the political situation as “critical” after Trinamool Congress withdrew its support to the UPA Government, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today said he would support anyone in the formation of the next Government at the Centre if it grants special category status to Bihar.
“I will extend support to anyone in the formation of the next Government if it grants special status to Bihar,” he said while addressing a public meeting.
He said the political situation at the Centre had turned unstable after the TMC pulled out support to the UPA Government.
He, however, did not say if he would fill the vacuum left by TMC’s withdrawal and in that event extend support to the UPA Government.
Kumar indicated that the UPA Government might not collapse following TMC’s withdrawal of support, saying the Congress was adept at managing the numbers required to run the Government, but it would have to suffer ignominy in the next Parliamentary elections.
“Congress ke log jugad mein mahir hain….Lekin jitna din yeh sarkar chalegi utni hi durdasha iski aagami Lok Sabha chunav mein honi wahi hai,” Kumar, a senior JD(U) leader, said.
Apparently taunting the UPA Government for not taking seriously the special category status to Bihar and relying on the support of the parties with one-two Lok Sabha members to stay in power (a reference to RJD), Kumar said Bihar would send 40 MPs to the Lok Sabha after the next election to pursue the special status issue.
The then Government of the day at the Centre will realise the might of the people of Bihar and will positively consider their rights and aspirations, he said.
The chief minister, who has embarked on ‘Adhikar Yatra’ to 32 districts to mobilise mass support for special category status to Bihar, said he had always launched various campaigns from Champaran and this yatra to pursue special status to Bihar was no different.
He said he would continue the tour through various parts of the state over the next one month to not only spread awareness among the people about the issue, but also to solicit their presence in the ‘Adhikar’ rally to be held in Patna on November 4.
He said he had been consistently pursuing the demand for according special status to Bihar since 2006 and a unanimous resolution was adopted by the two Houses of the state legislature in that year and the same was sent to the Centre for consideration.
“An all-party delegation had also sought time from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to submit a memorandum on the special status demand, but unfortunately we did not get time from him,” Kumar said.
A memorandum was subsequently submitted to the Prime Minister last year comprising signatures of over 1.25 crore people for consideration of the demand and consequently an Inter-Ministerial Group was formed by the Centre, but the latter rejected the demand even though it did concede prevalence of backwardness and development deficit in Bihar, the Chief Minister said.
Kumar observed that Bihar had the lowest per capita income in the country and lagged behind in human development and private capital investment.
Hence, he said, the Prime Minister should consider setting up the committee of officials to consider the special category status demand. (PTI)
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