Patna: Observing that the Manjhi government does not have the mandate to seek special status for Bihar, former deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Friday ruled out the centre considering such proposal till the formation of a new government in the state.
"Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi-led government does not have the mandate of its own nor it has any control over the instruments of governance to legitimately seek special status from the centre," he said.
Virtually ruling out that the NDA government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi considering any proposal to grant special status to Bihar anytime soon, Modi said that it would be highly unlikely that the centre may favourably consider such a proposal till a new government comes to power after the assembly polls next year.
Holding former chief minister Nitish Kumar for being solely responsible for Bihar not getting special status thus far, the senior BJP leader said this demand would have been met by now had had there been an NDA today in Bihar, but Kumar insulted the 2010 manadate and broke away with the BJP-led alliance last year.
"The sin committed by the senior JD(U) leader is proving costly to Bihar," Modi said.
The former deputy chief minister also castigated Kumar for forming a grand alliance with Congress and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad which together had denied special status and package to Bihar during the UPA rule.
Till recently, the former chief minister had criticized Congress and RJD chief for collusion to deny Bihar's due rights, but now he has no inhibition in joining forces with them in order to stop the BJP from coming to power in the state, Modi said.
Spitting venom at Kumar, Modi said that the senior JD(U) leader though claims to bat for Bihar, but in reality he has been hitting self goals one after another - first by quitting the NDA and then joining forces with the RJD.
PTI
First Published: Friday, August 22, 2014, 22:18
