Nitish lauds PC for status review

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar hailed the Budget and heaped praises on Finance Minister P Chidambaram for stressing the need to redefine criteria for granting special category status to states.

Bihar has been demanding special status. The JD-U held a rally a couple of months ago to press this demand and plans to hold another rally in Delhi in March. Nitish lauding the FM assumes political significance with the CM saying during his Adhikar Yatra that the JD-U will support a coalition which will grant Bihar special status.

“People of Bihar have reasons to be happy because the Centre has decided to redefine criteria for giving a state special category status. I have long been trying to emphasise that criteria of backwardness need to reviewed. We thank the FM for appreciating our concern,” Nitish said. He also lauded Chidambaram for continuing special assistance for Bihar and for the decision to make Nalanda International University a ‘centre of excellence’.