Nitish Kumar Reprises Bihar ‘Special Status’ Demand At Key JDU Meet; Sanjay Jha Named Party’s Working President

The Janata Dal (United) has resolved to push for special category for Bihar, which has been a long-standing demand of the Nitish Kumar-led party over the years.

New Delhi: Bihar Chief Minister and BJP’s NDA ally Nitish Kumar reiterated the demand for granting special category status to his state. The decision was taken at the national executive meeting of the Janata Dal (United) in national capital Delhi on Saturday.

Reports quoting JD(U) sources said the party, under the leadership of its national president, Kumar– resolved to push for special category for Bihar, which has been a long-standing demand of the Nitish Kumar-led party over the years.

The JD(U) who along with Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP), emerged as kingmakers after the BJP fell short of a majority in the Lok Sabha elections and must now rely on its NDA allies to run a majority government.

Nitish’s JD(U) has 12 parliamentary seats, making it a vital cog in the NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Its been speculated that the Bihar CM will likely use this leverage to seek special category status and special financial package for the state.

Following the meeting senior JD(U) leader Neeraj Kumar said the party reiterated its demand for special category status for Bihar, adding that the Centre could also consider an alternative in a special package.

Sanjay Jha named working president

Meanwhile, the JD(U) appointed its Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Jha as the party’s working president. Notably, the decision to appoint Jha as working president is significant since he is known to have a good equation with the BJP leadership and is also the JDU’s leader in the Rajya Sabha.

A PTI report citing party sources said Jha Jha was well-suited to draw a good deal from the BJP and maintain a friendly relationship between the two parties, which have a history of bumpy ties.

The BJP ally also demanded stringent action against culprits in exam paper leak cases and called for a strong law to rule out such incidents in the future.

Following his appointment, Jha said PM Modi always paid attention to Bihar and expressed hope that the party’s demand for special category status or a package for the state would be met.

Besides Kumar, the JD(U) meeting was also attended by Union ministers Lalan Singh and Ram Nath Thakur, and other senior leaders from around the country .

(With PTI inputs)