Senior JD (U) leader K C Tyagi Senior JD (U) leader K C Tyagi

The JD(U), a partner of the BJP in Bihar, on Monday said it will put up a fresh demand for special category status for the state before the 15th Finance Commission. The party said special package granted to Bihar was a good move, and a permanent solution to all-round progress of Bihar can be possible only if the state gets special category status, a long-pending demand that was first made with the UPA government.

JD(U) national spokesperson and principal general secretary K C Tyagi said: “There had been an all-party meeting in Patna on the matter. All political parties are unanimous. When a team of 15th Finance Commission visits Bihar in July, we will put forward our demand strongly.”

Asked whether special package given by the NDA government is not good enough to boost Bihar’s development, Tyagi said, “We had welcomed the special package but we do need special category status for all-round progress. We share international boundary with Nepal and have hilly terrains, some of the important criteria for granting special category status. During the UPA regime, the Raghuram Rajan Committee and later a Finance Commission committee rejected our case.”

He added, “But when a state like Andhra Pradesh can seek it (special category status), Bihar has a much stronger case to make it.”

Asked whether the Centre’s “lukewarm response” would affect the JD(U)’s relationship with the BJP as it happened in case of TDP, the JD(U) national spokesperson said: “Not at all. But we are more passionate in our demand than Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu. We would also take up our long-pending demand at other appropriate forums.”

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