Nitish pitches Bihar for Delhi durbar
18 March 2013 7:55 AM IST
Coming out of Bihar to demand special status for the state, chief minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday addressed an impressive rally at Ramlila Grounds and indicated that his party was open to political realignment. Kumar said he could support those who agree with his demand for special status to his state.
‘We should not see either left or right. We have to look straight. The government in Delhi should be such that looks after our interests. We are not begging. It is our right. I urge the government to speed up the process of granting special status to Bihar. If we do not get it, we would get it after the next general election as no government would be formed without the support of our party. Only those who feel about the backward states will be in power in Delhi,’ he said to a cheering crowd of over 50,000.
Taking a dig at the Gujarat model of development, without taking any names, Kumar said Bihar presents the real model of development in which everybody is taken along. Janata Dal (United), which is the key ally of opposition BJP, has opposed the projection of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi as the prime ministerial candidate, ‘Development model is in discussion these days. Development is where everybody is taken along. Bihar would show the real model of development to the world in which everybody is taken along and that is the real development model of India. We would leave behind everybody and make progress.’
Kumar, during his about half an hour speech, significantly welcomed the central government’s assurance on changing the criteria for the special status and demanded its early implementation. He said Bihar did not get its due as promised by the central government after Jharkhand was carved out of it. A resolution was also passed by the JD(U) which said, ‘The commitment in the Budget speech must now result in its urgent implementation. We seek a time-bound action to accord a special category status to Bihar. We resolve to continue our struggle....’
In another interesting move, he also batted for other backward states of the country and pitched for their development, saying that his fight was not only for Bihar but for all backward states. Kumar also said that there should be no difference between Bharat and India. ‘We want one kind of Hindustan,’ he said.
‘We should not see either left or right. We have to look straight. The government in Delhi should be such that looks after our interests. We are not begging. It is our right. I urge the government to speed up the process of granting special status to Bihar. If we do not get it, we would get it after the next general election as no government would be formed without the support of our party. Only those who feel about the backward states will be in power in Delhi,’ he said to a cheering crowd of over 50,000.
Taking a dig at the Gujarat model of development, without taking any names, Kumar said Bihar presents the real model of development in which everybody is taken along. Janata Dal (United), which is the key ally of opposition BJP, has opposed the projection of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi as the prime ministerial candidate, ‘Development model is in discussion these days. Development is where everybody is taken along. Bihar would show the real model of development to the world in which everybody is taken along and that is the real development model of India. We would leave behind everybody and make progress.’
Kumar, during his about half an hour speech, significantly welcomed the central government’s assurance on changing the criteria for the special status and demanded its early implementation. He said Bihar did not get its due as promised by the central government after Jharkhand was carved out of it. A resolution was also passed by the JD(U) which said, ‘The commitment in the Budget speech must now result in its urgent implementation. We seek a time-bound action to accord a special category status to Bihar. We resolve to continue our struggle....’
In another interesting move, he also batted for other backward states of the country and pitched for their development, saying that his fight was not only for Bihar but for all backward states. Kumar also said that there should be no difference between Bharat and India. ‘We want one kind of Hindustan,’ he said.
Next Story
