BJP will use the platform of its October 27 'Hoonkar Rally' to demand Rs 50,000 crore special package for Bihar.
Senior BJP leader said Sushil Kumar Modi said Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's specific demand for grant of special status to Bihar was not adequate for industrialization which would require huge investment, for which the party has decided to demand Rs 50,000 crore special central package.
A number of infrastructure projects and that of Railways requiring investment of Rs 10,000 crore have been pending in Bihar due to shortage of funds, he said, adding the special package would help in completion of these projects.
Charging Kumar with seeking to politically blackmail the UPA government to grant special status to Bihar in lieu of his party - JD(U)'s support to the centre, Modi said BJP will not resort to such tactic and instead press for the special package demand as rightful claim of the people.
"We don't want to beg to the Centre for special status or package, but will forcefully demand the same as a matter of right," he said, adding BJP would articulate its electoral commitment on the issue in the rally and meet the demand if NDA under Narendra Modi is voted to power at the Centre.
Modi also rapped the chief minister for writing to the Centre seeking grants in the ratio of 90:10 and said the formula was applicable to only those states enjoying special category status.
On the special status demand, he said though his party supported it in principal it was of the view that the measure alone would not resolve all problems of Bihar which required special package.
Referring to Kumar's demand for tax breaks to new industrial units in Bihar, he said the incentive should be extended to both existing units as well as new ones as otherwise those industrial units in production would become non-competitive.
