Support of Bihar MPs must for next government: Nitish

Chapra: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today exuded confidence that the next government at the Centre will have to grant special status to Bihar as that government cannot be formed without the support of 40 MPs of the state. “It is important that you (electorate of Bihar) should elect your MPs who steadfastly stand for special status demand for Bihar as their support will be key for formation of next government at the Centre,” he said at the Adhikar Sammelan.[caption id=“attachment_463823” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Bihar, Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar. Image courtesy PIB[/caption] He, however, did not elaborate whether the JD(U), spearheading campaign on special status issue on its own, will contest the next parliamentary elections alone and seek to win all 40 seats to play a crucial role in formation of the next government at the Centre. The chief minister’s remarks about 40 Bihar MPs playing crucial role in next government at the Centre after 2014 parliamentary polls was apparently aimed at diluting his firm stand two days ago at another public meeting at Betiah that he would support anyone in formation of the government at the Centre if it grants special category status to Bihar. He also hit out at his arch rival, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, for deriding the ongoing campaign by the JD(U) on the special category status issue and said Prasad had opportunity to pursue the matter when his party was in power in the state. Pushing for special status, the chief minister said the state had its own set of perennial problems, like flood and drought and when both occurred simultaneously in occasional years, it had a crippling impact on the state’s economy. Bihar has the highest population density and population pressure on limited land, besides development and infrastructure deficit and all these negative factors affecting growth of the state made it a fit case for grant of special status, Kumar said. PTI