BJP mocks Nitish’s promise on spl status

On Thursday, Nitish Kumar had said that all backward states, including Bihar, would get special status if a non-BJP government got installed at the Centre in 2024.

Bihar BJP president Dr Sanjay Jaiswal on Friday said chief minister Nitish Kumar “remembers special status when he finds ground slipping from under his feet”.

Bihar BJP president Dr Sanjay Jaiswal . (HT Photo)

On Thursday, Kumar had said that all backward states, including Bihar, would get special status if a non-BJP government got installed at the Centre in 2024.

Jaiswal said that NK Singh, chairman of the 15th Finance Commission (FC), was a Rajya Sabha member from Kumar’s party JD(U) when the 14th FC abolished the provision of special status. “Why did he (Singh) not recommend it again? He was an MP from JD(U) then. Nitishji remembers special status when he finds ground slipping from under his feet,” the state BJP chief said, adding that special status was an old tool to mislead people, who were now well aware of the huge financial support Bihar was getting from the Narendra Modi government at the Centre.

“The state government deliberately delays land acquisition and the projects suffer. A party (JD-U) which may not contest more than 11 Lok Sabha seats is making promises on behalf of the next government is laughable,“ he said.

Rajya Sabha member and former deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi, who today appeared in the court to in a defamation case filed against Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi for once saying “all Modis are thieves”, said there was no point discussing special status now that Bihar has been given enough funds for all-round progress and there is no such provision anymore.

“It is a thing of the past. The country has marched ahead, the economy has grown. Nitish Kumar should now stop using special status as a political tool. He did not get it when a provision for special status existed and now when there is no such provision, he occasionally keeps raising it. People also know it. He himself pushes Bihar two steps backward after one step forward due to his personal ambition. This time, he may push it three steps backward and then aspire for special status,” he said.