Ajay Kumar By

Releasing the party manifesto for the Lok Sabha polls on Saturday, the JD(U) promised special category status for Bihar and other least developed states. The party also pledged to extend job reservations in private sector. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said there was a need to redefine Centre-state relations and scrap the practise of devising schemes without consulting states.

He also lambasted the UPA government approach of showing upper hand as “donar” and treating states as seekers at their mercy. “The successful model of Bihar’s inclusive growth should be replicated in other parts of the country,” JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav said while praising the performance of Bihar government in the past nine years. The party manifesto suggested that Bihar’s successful experiment of providing 50 per cent reservation to women in panchayat and urban local bodies should be extended at the national level. It also promised to constitute a commission to study the socio-economic condition of poor upper caste people at the national level. The CM said his party has tried to showcase alternative vision of development through its manifesto. Nitish also charged Narendra Modi with playing with people’s emotions in his election meetings, to sell his dreams.

In an obvious reference to his rival party, he said in this election, industrialists and capitalists were not helping a political party, rather investing in it. JD(U) state president Basistha Narayan Singh, general secretary K C Tyagi and other senior party functionaries were present.