Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has called for statewide bandh on Sunday demanding special status for the state on the lines of one given to Seemandhra.
Kumar will start a protest march from his residence in Patna to the Gandhi Maidan where he will stage a sit-in under Mahatma Gandhi's statue throughout the day.
Addressing a press conference here, Kumar had earlier said, "I am extremely grateful to several parties for extending their support to our demand for special status for Bihar. We have called a Bihar bandh on March 2 against the Centre's betrayal in this regard."
"The fight for special status for Bihar is an old demand," he added.
Meanwhile, JD-U president Sharad Yadav has blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for not doing enough to get special status for Bihar during their rule in the state.
"They do drama, the special status to Bihar would have been granted, if they had passed the issue in state assembly during their regime in the state," said Yadav.
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"We have been fighting for this issue for a long time and we will make sure that we get special status for the state," Yadav added.
Yadav's remark came in response to an agitation carried out by BJP members and its supporters against the central government for its decision to deny special status to Bihar.
On Friday, BJP supporters staged a train blockade in Patna, and condemned the discriminatory approach on the demand of special category status by residents of Bihar.
According to the protesters, the Indian Government granted a special status to Seemandhra region, but did not pay heed to Bihar.
Reportedly, the Raghuram Rajan Committee had last year identified Bihar as one of the least developed states.
The committee suggested splitting states into three categories and subsumed the previous special category criteria for providing special assistance to poorer states.
To put pressure on the central government, the JD-U held a rally in Patna last year. The party also collected over 10 million signatures to back their demand for special status.