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Chasm between NDA allies widens as JD(U) rethinks on special status demand
The sudden announcement is seen as a realization by the top JD (U) leadership that it doesn’t fit into the criterion laid down for the special status, though it has been raising the demand since 2005.
The announcement by a JD(U) minister in Bihar that the state was dropping its long pending demand of special status has once again brought to fore the blow hot, blow cold relation between the main allies of the National Democratic Alliance, the BJP and the JD (U).
The sudden announcement is seen as a realization by the top JD (U) leadership that it doesn’t fit into the criterion laid down for the special status, though it has been raising the demand since 2005.
“The top JD (U) leadership realized that Bihar does not qualify for the status given the conventional criteria for it. Nobody knows this better than Nitish Kumar himself,” feels Nawal Kishore Chowdhary, retired head of department of Economics, Patna University.
“The dropping of the demand is quite logical,” said Prabhat P Ghosh, director, ADRI. “One of the reasons for this is that Finance Commission earlier used to differentiate between special category and normal states. Now the Commission has dropped the distinction. Following the recommendations of 14th Finance Commission, the Special Category States cease to exist and thus, no special category status has been granted to any state. Ever since the Commission ceased to differentiate between the two, the JD(U) rightly decided to drop this demand,” he added.
However, both Ghosh and Chowdhary justify the special package demand. “The special package was promised when Jharkhand was formed,” said Ghosh. “The special package demand is more pragmatic and beneficial in view of declining state revenues, which has been the main plank of JD(U),” said Chowdhary.
However, the JD(U)’s backtracking is also seen as one more instance of the growing chasm between the two parties after the recent setback to Nitish Kumar’s party, which has been championing the issue of caste census. With Kumar maintaining that he will hold discussions with all parties on caste census, the sudden drop of special status is seen as a “possible move to charter a different track in future.”
The BJP reacted belligerently after an announcement to this effect was made by senior JD(U) minister Vijendra Prasad Yadav. “We should stop this tendency of begging instead we should develop ourselves in such a manner that we are able to give others. We should be grateful to the PM for providing so much to the state,” advised BJP minister for road construction, Nitin Nabin.
“Earlier, the state share of revenue was 32% now it has increased to 42% while the remaining 58% is spent through different Centrally sponsored schemes,” said BJP state president, Dr Sanjay Jaiswal. “What special package are they talking about? The PM gave ₹1.25 lakh crore to the state as special assistance and had also announced to stand by the state in its hour of need,” said BJP spokesperson Prem Ranjan Patel. According to BJP leaders, as per the proposed recommendations of the 15th Finance Commission, Bihar is likely to get ₹4,78,751 crore, which is the second highest in the country. “This included ₹4,24,926 crore as central taxes and ₹53,825 crore as grants,” claimed a BJP leader. For urban bodies it is likely to get ₹35,577 crore which would be 66% more than the last amount ( ₹21,413 crore), it got. So where has Bihar been overlooked,” he added.
“One cannot deny that there may be an element of politics in the decision to back out,” feels Chowdhary. “The JD(U) might be trying to pressurize BJP and is keeping its option open in the wake of projection of Nitish Kumar as PM material,” he added.
