Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who has been scrambling to unite the opposition against the BJP for the 2024 contest, made a big announcement on Thursday. The JD(U) supremo said all backward states in the country will be granted special status if non-BJP parties form the government at the centre after the 2024 general election.
“If we get an opportunity to form the government, we will surely give backward states special status. I am not just talking about Bihar, but also about other states that should get special status,” Nitish Kumar told reporters in Patna while answering a question after an event to launch the installation of solar street lights in the state’s 8,061 panchayats.
Mr Kumar, who has been demanding a special status for Bihar since 2005, also took a swipe at the central government for not granting special status to Bihar and other backward states and accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre of relying on propaganda rather than working for the country’s benefit, Hindustan Times reported.
“What all we got from Centre?. Had we been granted the special status category, Bihar would have benefited in different sectors. Bihar would have changed… I am not talking of Bihar only, some other backward states should be granted the same status for development,” the Bihar CM said, without mentioning the other states he thinks are backward.
Mr Kumar, delivering a speech, also accused the Centre of believing in propaganda rather than working for the people. “People at the Centre believe in propaganda, we believe in work,” he said.
Countering the BJP’s allegations of misgovernance, Mr Kumar said the BJP “was speaking as if nothing has been done in the state and nothing is happening in the state”.
He also went on to claim that the Centre’s Har Ghar Jal Scheme, launched by the Centre for the country in 2019, was originally a Bihar government scheme which was picked by the Centre.
“Har Ghar Jal was a state government scheme that was emulated by the Centre. They even tried to convince us to give credit to the Centre for the scheme,” the Bihar said, further listing the schemes and steps taken by his government for women and the poor.
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