Nitish-Manmohan meet likely to bear fruits for Bihar soon
19 March 2013 7:07 AM IST
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Monday expressed confidence that the central government will soon take up his demand for a special status to Bihar. Kumar on Monday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister P Chidambaram and the Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia to press his demand.
‘We are fully prepared, we are fighting the battle, which has now entered a decisive phase. Either the government will take a forward movement in this respect else, we will take a decision after that,’ said Bihar chief minister. Kumar said that he discussed the issue of special status with the Prime Minister and the finance minister and that he has got indications from the talks that they will move forward in this direction.
Kumar also emphasised that this is the right time for the central government to go ahead in granting the special status to Bihar. ‘Time frame is automatically fixed, how much time of this government is left...elections are due in 2014. The time frame is right now...immediately. If they do something in this period, they can get the benefit of it,’ said Nitish Kumar.
The Bihar chief minister said what he has gathered after meeting the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister that ‘they will make some move forward. If they move forward, its a matter of great happiness.’ In wake of speculation about the growing proximity between Congress and Janata Dal (United), Kumar said that the meeting was aimed at development and had no political meaning.
‘If any politics is involved in it, it is the politics of development, there is no politics of permutations and combinations. There is no politics of going here and there,’ said Kumar. The chief minister said that Bihar’s demand should be seen in the context of the right to development. ‘I told the Prime Minister that we, too, have a right to develop,’ said Bihar chief minister. Kumar also said that now it is upto the central government to decide of how to move forward in this matter. ‘I have left it to the finance minister... from what they have told me, it seems they will fulfil what they have promised,’ said Nitish Kumar.
BIHAR UNDER NITISH AHEAD OF GUJ IN GROWTH RATE: CONGRESS
Seeking to reach out to Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, Congress on Monday said the government will ‘sympathetically consider’ any request for assistance to the state which has seen higher growth under him that Narendra Modi’s Gujarat.
At the same time, the AICC saw no possibility of special status for the state and said that the issue should not be politicised.
Party spokesman Rashid Alvi also reminded Nitish Kumar that the UPA had given to Bihar more than double the allocation during the NDA period when the Bihar Chief Minister himself was a Union Minister for some time.
‘We have doubled the allocation for Bihar as compared to the NDA period. We have taken full care of Bihar. It has been given more allocation than some Congress ruled states.
‘There has been no discrimination towards any state, irrespective of which party rules it. If Bihar wants any type of assistance, it will be sympathetically considered,’ Alvi told reporters. Asked whether the Congress felt that the demand for special status for Bihar is not justified, Alvi said at least the economic data indicates this.
‘We are fully prepared, we are fighting the battle, which has now entered a decisive phase. Either the government will take a forward movement in this respect else, we will take a decision after that,’ said Bihar chief minister. Kumar said that he discussed the issue of special status with the Prime Minister and the finance minister and that he has got indications from the talks that they will move forward in this direction.
Kumar also emphasised that this is the right time for the central government to go ahead in granting the special status to Bihar. ‘Time frame is automatically fixed, how much time of this government is left...elections are due in 2014. The time frame is right now...immediately. If they do something in this period, they can get the benefit of it,’ said Nitish Kumar.
The Bihar chief minister said what he has gathered after meeting the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister that ‘they will make some move forward. If they move forward, its a matter of great happiness.’ In wake of speculation about the growing proximity between Congress and Janata Dal (United), Kumar said that the meeting was aimed at development and had no political meaning.
‘If any politics is involved in it, it is the politics of development, there is no politics of permutations and combinations. There is no politics of going here and there,’ said Kumar. The chief minister said that Bihar’s demand should be seen in the context of the right to development. ‘I told the Prime Minister that we, too, have a right to develop,’ said Bihar chief minister. Kumar also said that now it is upto the central government to decide of how to move forward in this matter. ‘I have left it to the finance minister... from what they have told me, it seems they will fulfil what they have promised,’ said Nitish Kumar.
BIHAR UNDER NITISH AHEAD OF GUJ IN GROWTH RATE: CONGRESS
Seeking to reach out to Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, Congress on Monday said the government will ‘sympathetically consider’ any request for assistance to the state which has seen higher growth under him that Narendra Modi’s Gujarat.
At the same time, the AICC saw no possibility of special status for the state and said that the issue should not be politicised.
Party spokesman Rashid Alvi also reminded Nitish Kumar that the UPA had given to Bihar more than double the allocation during the NDA period when the Bihar Chief Minister himself was a Union Minister for some time.
‘We have doubled the allocation for Bihar as compared to the NDA period. We have taken full care of Bihar. It has been given more allocation than some Congress ruled states.
‘There has been no discrimination towards any state, irrespective of which party rules it. If Bihar wants any type of assistance, it will be sympathetically considered,’ Alvi told reporters. Asked whether the Congress felt that the demand for special status for Bihar is not justified, Alvi said at least the economic data indicates this.
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