Nitish to make denial of special status to Bihar a major poll plank

BJP had supported the demand when it was in alliance with him

After the denial by the Centre of special category status to the state, Nitish Kumar-led JD(U)-RJD alliance will make this a major election point in the upcoming Bihar assembly polls.

JD(U) Secretary General and MP K C Tyagi said the Union government's stand amounted to "betrayal" by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who made "big" assurances to the state during his campaign for the Lok Sabha elections last year.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will make it into a major issue as it has exposed BJP's "double standards", he said.

Ruling out special category status to Bihar that would have led to increased central assistance, the government had on Friday said there was no such proposal.

"There is no proposal as of now to grant special status to any state. There is a proposal to give special package," Minister of State for Planning Rao Inderjit Singh had told the Lok Sabha while replying to a question by Bihar MP Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav.

Kumar has been pitching for special category status for Bihar for a long time and BJP had supported his demand when it was in alliance with him.

A special category status will render the backward state a host of financial incentives which, Kumar has argued, was necessary to turn around Bihar economically.

In Bihar on July 25 to kick off his party's campaign, Modi had promised to give it a package "bigger" than Rs 50,000 crore which he had announced earlier. Modi has said he would make an announcement at an appropriate time.