PATNA: Rashtriya Janata Dal chief and former Bihar chief minister Lalu Yadav on Tuesday rubbished and rejected the Centre's offer of a special package for the state, and said that the latter must know the difference between 'special status' and 'special package'
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Lalu, who has presently forged an alliance with the Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal-United, said, "Centre must understand that there is a huge difference between Special Status and Special Package. Prime Minister Modi had promised Special Status to Bihar one-and-a-half-years ago."
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has been demanding the grant of Special Status for the state for over two years on the plea that that Bihar is way behind on major indices of development at the national level.
Despite accounting for eight percent of the country's population, Bihar present contribution to national GDP is only 2.9 percent.
Kumar said that if the Centre accords Special Status to Bihar it can raise its GDP contribution to nine to ten percent.