PATNA: A day after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) demanded special status to Bihar, union minister and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan on Sunday extended his party’s support to the demand and said that it should not be contended as ‘pressure politics’.
While interacting with media persons after his arrival from New Delhi, where he took oath as union minister, Chirag said that his party is in support of Bihar being accorded special status. “Which political party will not want special status to Bihar,” he asked.
In response to a media query, the union minister said that it should not be considered as “pressure politics” but it has been a long pending demand of all political parties to accelerate the pace of development in the state. The demand for special status is for the people’s benefit, he added.
Elaborating further, Chirag said, “We are part of the NDA government at the centre. BJP is the largest party in our alliance and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is our leader. We all have faith in him. If we do not put forward our demand before him, who else would we demand?” he asked.
His remarks came a day after the national executive of JD(U) chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar passed a resolution on Saturday, demanding ‘special status’ or ‘special financial package’ for Bihar from the Centre. The party had made a similar demand on earlier occasions as well.
Newly-elected JD(U) working president and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Kumar Jha said that Bihar had registered growth by utilising its own resources as much as possible but the central assistance was necessary to put the state on a high-growth trajectory.
JD(U) executive committee meeting was held in New Delhi on June 29, which was attended by party’s ministers in Narendra Modi 0.3 government besides other senior leaders. The LJP(RV) chief also clarified that Nitish Kumar would lead the NDA in the state assembly election due next year. Taking a potshot at the opposition, Chirag said, “This time too, the opposition made claims in the Lok Sabha polls that the account will not be opened and a lot more but the result proved otherwise.
