Nitish Kumar-led JD(U)-RJD alliance will make the denial of special status to Bihar by the central government a key election point in the upcoming assembly polls.
The party on Sunday accused the Narendra Modi led government at the centre of ‘betraying’ the people of Bihar.
JD(U) Secretary General and MP, K C Tyagi, said that Modi had performed a major U-turn on this promise after making “big” assurances to the state during his campaign for the Lok Sabha elections last year, reports PTI.
Tyagi added that chief minister Nitish Kumar will make it a major issue as it has exposed BJP’s “double standards.”
The central government on Friday had ruled out any plans to announce a special package for Bihar, which would have significantly benefited from the increased financial assistance by the centre.
Modi, while visiting Bihar recently, had not announced any special financial package for the state. In his speech, Modi said that he will give package “bigger” than Rs 50,000 crore but would make an announcement at an appropriate time.
While replying to a question by Bihar MP Pappu Yadav. the minister of state for planning Rao Inderjit Singh had told the Lok Sabha, “There is no proposal as of now to grant special status to any state. There is a proposal to give special package.”
BJP, which was once a partner in Bihar government led by Nitish Kumar, had supported the idea of a special status for Bihar but it changed after the party party ways with JDU. Since, then the BJP’s electoral fortunes changed dramatically with the party led by Modi almost swept Bihar in the last LS polls.
