After a series of attack against the Grand Secular Alliance government over issues related to law and order, the BJP on Sunday turned soft and assured chief minister Nitish Kumar that the Centre and the Prime Minister were committed to the development of the state.
According to senior BJP leader and Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, “The PM has a soft corner for him and we are all committed to Bihar’s development. Bihar will develop and the Centre is there to support. Bihar’s development is Centre’s priority.”
Adding to this, BJP national spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said, “Nitish Kumar is known for good governance so he must maintain his image by controlling the law and order situation.” BJP sources said that the sudden change in harshness was the result of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s gracious gesture for Mr Kumar. The two arch rivals who had bitterly slammed each other during the Assembly elections in 2015 had shared the dais in Hajipur while dedicating two mega railway bridge projects to the state.
However, sources close to RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav said that the Prime Minister’s gesture was meant to divert attention because he and his government at the Centre had done nothing for Bihar despite lofty promises made by him during the Assembly election campaign in Bihar in 2015. Mr Kumar, who was in Gopalganj on Sunday to inaugurate a bridge between Bettiah and Gopalganj, said, “The Centre and the state will jointly work to accelerate development of the state.”
He also asked BJP MPs to raise the issue of the special status category in Parliament. “There is no politics in this even when the PM was in Patna we spoke about development and today I ask the leaders of the BJP to raise the issue of special status in Parliament,” he said.
Just on the eve of the Prime Minister’s visit to Bihar, RJD leader and deputy chief minister Tejaswi Yadav had reminded the Prime Minister of his commitment to the special status category to the state, which was made during the Lok Sabha polls. “To develop Bihar, the Centre must give special status category. We want special status category for the state at any cost,” Mr Tejaswi Yadav had said.
