JD(U) raises afresh special status demand ahead of PM's visit

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) raised afresh the demand for special category status on Monday ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the state.

JD(U) parliamentary board chief Upendra Kushwaha raised the demand in a lengthy Facebook post, reminding Modi of his party's old ties with the BJP “despite ideological differences”.

Talking to reporters later, Kushwaha, who has also served in the union council of ministers headed by Modi from 2014 to 2018, however, made it clear that he did not expect the Prime Minister to make any such announcement during his trip on Tuesday.

Modi is scheduled to arrive in Bihar capital on Tuesday evening, which would be his first visit to the state since October-November, 2020, when he spearheaded an intensive campaign for the NDA during the state assembly poll. His itinerary involves attending a function to be held at the historic assembly premises here, which has completed 100 years of its construction.

“In my Facebook post I have extended my warm welcome to the Prime Minister under whose leadership I have had the good fortune to work. I have also highlighted the similarities he shares with our Chief Minister, both of whom have a reputation for probity in public life”, said Kushwaha.

He added that the demand for special status was a “long standing” one as far as his party was concerned.

He ducked queries as to whether the demand was raised with a view to embarrassing the state BJP, with which he has been at loggerheads.

Kushwaha, who had broken away from Nitish Kumar in 2013 and floated the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party, merged his party with the JD(U) last year in a development which was seen as the chief minister's attempt to consolidate his OBC base in the face of the BJP's ascendance.

Since his induction into the JD(U), the former union minister has been keeping the BJP on tenterhooks, lambasting it on issues ranging from perceived insults to the national tricolour and Emperor Asoka and refusing to support the ally when it was at the receiving end of violent protests against Agnipath.

The demand for special category status has in the recent past led to many spats between the BJP, which claims the Centre is already giving the state more than its due, and the JD(U) which insists that Bihar deserved greater assistance from the Union government.