Bihar: Nitish Satisfied, Close Aide Kushwaha Disappointed with Union Budget

Patna: Hours after the Union Budget was presented in the Parliament, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ally Janata Dal-United (JD-U) was divided as Chief Minister Nitish Kumar praised it on Tuesday, while another senior party leader denounced it and expressed disappointment as there was nothing for Bihar. Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) echoed the latter in criticising the budget, terming it disappointing for a poor and backward state like Bihar.

Senior JD-U leader Upendra Kushwaha, chairman of the JD(U)'s national parliamentary board, took to social media to express his resentment. “In this budget, Bihar has been ignored. We have been disappointed as there is no move for the special category status to Bihar”.

Kushwaha, a former union minister, considered close to Kumar, said the budget has failed to offer anything special to Bihar. In his tweet, he expressed his unhappiness for not granting special category status to Bihar.

Kushwaha further said that a poor state like Bihar deserves the special category status for its development and growth, but the budget was silent on the issue. It may be recalled that this is an old demand of JD-U and the people of Bihar.

The stand taken by Kushwaha is widely being seen as a part of JD-U efforts to corner BJP on this issue. Contrary to the fresh demand of special category status to Bihar by Kumar and his party's leaders, his cabinet colleagues from BJP have challenged its necessity. They have made it clear that they are not with Kumar's demand of special category status to the state.

JD-U leaders have been raising demands of special category status to Bihar in recent months. As per sources inside the party, JD-U has decided to raise the issue in the current budget session in the parliament.

By raking up a long pending demand close to the heart of Kumar, JD-U leaders have made it clear to BJP that the party will not compromise with its agenda. Kumar and his party have raised this issue repeatedly for political purposes. In the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, KC Tyagi, national spokesperson of JD-U, had promised voters in Bihar that if the party wins at least 15 Lok Sabha seats, it will work for getting special category status to the state. The JD-U won 16 of 17 seats it contested. But Kumar failed to get his old demand of special category status to Bihar despite sharing power with the BJP-led NDA in state and Centre.

Political watchers here said that in the past, Nitish Kumar had done everything from launching a signature campaign to taking out rallies in Delhi and Patna to staging dharnas to push for special status for Bihar.

It should be noted that earlier, on several occasions, the Bihar CM had stated that the state would take at least 25 years to touch the national average of economic growth if the special category status was not accorded to it. He used to remind Delhi that Bihar’s per capita income and investment is the lowest in the country. It lags on all human development indicators. None of this has changed.