NCP stirs Bihar special status pot

Patna: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Tuesday wrote to senior Opposition leaders across the country seeking their support for the demand for special category status to Bihar.

Letters have been sent to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi, RJD chief Lalu Prasad and his son Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI-ML general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya and CPI secretary D. Raja among others.

Arguing for the demand, the letter by NCP general secretary Tariq Anwar says: “The purpose of this letter is to bring to your kind notice the economic plight of Bihar and the need to get a special category status for the state to lift it out of the morass of economic backwardness and grim poverty, and put it on the road to progress and growth.”

Letters have also been sent to Niti Aayog deputy chairman Rajiv Kumar, 15th Finance Commission of India chairman N.K. Singh, leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Loktantrik Janata Dal president Sharad Yadav, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee working president Kaukab Quadri and RJD state president Ram Chandra Purbey.

“Your active cooperation is solicited in order to take Bihar out of its sorry state of development through the collective efforts of all parties and individuals…,” the letter further says.

The NCP is also demanding waiver of loans to farmers to rescue them from their plight.

Tariq said he had previously written an open letter to chief minister Nitish Kumar asking him to use his good office and ties with the Centre to get the long-pending demand for special category status fulfilled or quit the alliance and fight for the interests of the state.

The NCP general secretary, who happens to be a Lok Sabha member from Katihar, expressed worry over continuous hike in petrol and diesel prices. “People are suffering and all sectors have been impacted. We demand that the Centre immediately take steps to check prices from going further north,” Tariq said. He also hit out at RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat embarking on a three-day visit to Bihar. “There is an atmosphere of fear in the country and the RSS is responsible for it. Dalits, women, weaker sections and minorities are being tortured. The ideology of Bhagwat and RSS affects the entire country,” Tariq said.

Courtesy: The Telegraph