Will implement quota for upper caste in Bihar: Nitish

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday asserted that he would implement the new legislation, related to reservation for economically weaker sections among the upper caste, in Bihar soon.

“We are taking the legal opinion whether this has to be enforced through an executive order or whether there is a need to amend the existing Act. Once we arrive at a decision, the new quota legislation will be implemented in Bihar as well,” said Nitish. The Chief Minister was interacting with the media after his weekly Lok Samvad (Public Interface) programme here in the State Capital.

On media speculation that he may share the dais with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during electioneering, he said, “The dates for an election rally have not been finalised yet. Once it is done (most probably in the first week of March), I will be sharing the dais with him as part of the NDA.”

The move assumes significance as it was Nitish who had banned Modi from campaigning in Bihar during the 2010 Assembly election, soon after the much-talked-about ‘dinner-cancellation’ event in Patna in 2010. Their animosity reached its peak when he snapped ties with the BJP after the saffron camp projected Modi, then a Gujarat CM, as its prime ministerial candidate. After being decimated in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Nitish avenged the defeat during 2015 Assembly polls after he formed Mahagatbandhan with the RJD and the Congress.

OPPOSED TO CITIZENSHIP BILL

Though he re-joined NDA in July 2017, Nitish is still opposed to BJP on several key issues. “We have a different stand on contentious issues like Triple Talaq and Citizenship Bill. We are opposed to Centre’s Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 as the controversial legislation would threaten the cultural and linguistic identity of the indigenous people of Assam. So far as Triple Talaq is concerned, no law should be made without the consent of that particular religious group,” cautioned Nitish