Nitish Kumar's response on Bihar special status snub: ‘Sab kuch dhire dhire…’
Bihar CM Nitish Kumar has a cryptic response to Centre denying the demand of special status for the state.
After the Narendra Modi government decided to rule against the demands to give special status to Bihar, chief minister and Janata Dal (United) chief Nitish Kumar issued a cryptic response.
Kumar, whose JD (U) with 12 Lok Sabha MPs is a key ally of the ruling NDA at the Centre, was asked about the Union government's statement in Parliament on Monday. "You will get to know all things slowly, and slowly (sab kuchh dhire dhire jaan jaaiyega)," the longest-serving CM of the state said, in reply to a volley of questions he faced from journalists at the Bihar Assembly.
Flashing a smile at the reporters after his ambiguous comment, Nitish Kumar waved and walked towards the House.
In the Lok Sabha election 2024, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) failed to get majority on its own and became heavily dependent on its allies to form the government. BJP's tally was 240, but was able to form the government with 272 seats after support from Nitish Kumar's JD(U) and Chandrababu Naidu's TDP.
Soon after the win in the Lok Sabha polls, NDA ally JD(U) held a national executive meeting where a resolution was passed raising a fresh demand for special status for Bihar.
Leaders of the JD (U), which has two ministers in the Union government, insist that the resolution also spoke of a"special package and other types of help" and that Bihar could still get a lot from the Narendra Modi government.
While Bihar's special status request was snubbed by the central government, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced major financial assistance for the state during the presentation of the Union Budget 2024 in Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
“The government proposes ₹26,000 crore for various road projects in Bihar,” the finance minister said. She further said that financial assistance will be given to Bihar with the help of multilateral development agencies.
Nirmala Sitharaman said that Centre will launch projects to build airports, medical colleges, and sports infrastructure in Bihar, as per the Budget. “We will formulate plan Purvodaya for all round development of Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, and Andhra Pradesh,” she added.
(With inputs from PTI)