NEW DELHI, SEPT 27: They were baying for each other's blood till recently. But the prospect of facing a poorer, resourceless Bihar after its bifurcation later this year has forced them to come together on a common platform.It was after a long time that Union Ministers Sharad Yadav and Nitish Kumar and their bete-noire Laloo Prasad Yadav shared a platform. The occasion was the all-party meeting convened by Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi at the Bihar Niwas to dwell on the state's post-Jharkhand future.But their party was spoilt by Communications Minister Ram Vilas Paswan's decision to stay away from the gathering, even though former Union Minister Jai Narain Prasad Nishad was there to represent his faction. Among the other Union ministers from the state, only Digvijay Singh showed up.But this failed to dampen their resolve. ``We've decided to face the situation unitedly,'' gushed the Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo, adding, ``Bihar has always been given a step-motherly treatment. We'll approach Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman K.C. Pant soon to apprise them of our grievances.''To which the Union Agriculture Minister Nitish Kumar added, ``The best thing about the entire exercise is that we have come together on the issue of Bihar's economic development.''But what about his relentless campaign against the RJD government's ineffectiveness so far? ``What has happened in the past is not relevant now. There is no point in digging up old issues,'' Kumar said.He said that the participants of the meeting had asked the Bihar Chief Minister to form a committee of officials which will fine-tune therecommendations made by the core committee. ``We'll submit this document to the Prime Minister and the Planning Commission,'' the Union Agriculture Minister pointed out.He was optimistic that the Centre would consider their case sympathetically. ``After all, the Bihar Reorganisation Bill contains a proposal to create a dedicated cell in the Planning Commission to look into the demand for a financial package for the truncated Bihar,'' he said.But BJP representatives sounded a note of caution. ``The state's net reserves will into a deficit of Rs 3,000 crores after the creation of Jharkhand. The main issue is: How to mobilise funds for the plan expenditure ? How do you formulate the plan when you don't have the reserves?'' asked Rajiv Pratap Rudy, the party MP from Chhapra.He was not sure about the Bihar Chief Minister's intentions in convening the meeting. ``There is more of politics and less of development in the entire exercise,'' he quipped.Jharkhand, he added, had been with Bihar for the last 50 years. ``But we still do not have proper roads, electricity, flood-control and irrigation facilities,'' Rudy said.
