NEW DELHI: BJP ally JD-U on Thursday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to grant special state status to Bihar, saying such a move will end the state's backwardness and solve the problem of unemployment.
Participating in the debate on the motion of thanks to the resident's address, JD-U leader Rajiv Ranjan Singh said if the special state status is granted to Bihar, there will be rapid industrialisation, which will result in the creation of more jobs and the state's unemployment problem will end.
"If you don't develop Bihar, the country will never be developed," he said, adding the status of special state should also be given to other backward states.
The JD-U is part of the NDA and is running a coalition government in Bihar along with the BJP.
Singh highlighted the achievements of the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar and said the JD(U)-BJP government is ahead of other states in various development initiatives. He appreciated the prime minister for providing free vaccines to the people of the country and other welfare programs of the central government.
Singh said after Bihar was bifurcated, most of the natural resources had gone to Jharkhand and despite the difficulties, the Nitish Kumar government has been trying its best to ameliorate the problems of the people.
Participating in the debate, BJD leader Pinaki Mishra said he was disappointed that there was no mention of the 'terrible' unemployment problem in the country in the president's address.
He claimed that for the first time in India's history, an "unemployment riot" had taken place recently while referring to the violence that took place in Bihar following protests by aspirants of railway jobs. Mishra said, a total of 1.24 crore youths have applied for 35,281 jobs in the railways and the government should pay attention to this burgeoning problem.
The BJD leader said another key issue that did not find mention in the president's address was the problem of inflation. He referred to the rising prices of food and petroleum products and urged the government to take care of these two issues.
Mishra also talked about the proposed move to change the service rules of IAS and IPS officers and said the proposal will create a 'very dangerous situation' for the Union of India. "It is a very dangerous move and it will hit the federal structure of the country," he said.
TRS member Nama Nageswara Rao said President Ram Nath Kovind, in his address, did not talk about some of the key problems of the country like unemployment, Minimum Support Price for farmers, and center-state relations.
Rao also highlighted the various "development schemes" being implemented by the K Chandrashekar Rao government in Telangana while alleging that the TRS government was getting little help from the central government for several welfare schemes.
Rao claimed that the Telangana government has been a pioneer in providing piped drinking water to every household in the state. "For the welfare of farmers, Rs 50,000 crore has been provided to them under the 'Rythu Bandhu' scheme in addition to round-the-clock free power and 30 lakh borewells," he said.
Rao said Telangana is the number one state in the country in producing palm oil and the growing area of the edible oil will be expanded further.