Mar 2 Bihar bandh to demand special status

PATNA: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Friday called for Bihar bandh on March 2 to protest the Centre’s denial of special status to the state.

The UPA-II government had recently decided to allot the special status to newly crafted Seemandhra state. Kumar said that the decision — “taken in a day at the behest of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi” — showed that the Centre could give the status to “any state any time”.

“Bihar has been denied the status due to political reasons. It shows the centre’s discriminatory attitude. We will not tolerate it as it’s a question of Bihari pride.” Kumar said, emphasizing that the bandh be referred to as “peoplesponsored bandh”.

Claiming that he had earlier received “positive vibes” from the Centre, the CM said the proposal was shelved “due to political reasons”. Meanwhile, the BJP remained aggressive on the demand for special status. “Once Narendra Modi becomes PM, the BJP will give special status to Bihar,” said leader of the opposition Nand Kishore Yadav.

In Rajya Sabha opposition parties on Friday created an uproar demanding special economic package for seven most backward states including Bihar, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh, leading to the adjournment of the House till noon. Raising the issue, SP MLA Kiranmay Nanda said the Central government had failed to provide financial package to the seven backward states identified in the Raghuram Rajan report.

BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad, accused the Centre of discriminating against backward states, saying finance minister P Chidambaram had assured Bihar of special assistance but had failed to do so.