The Centre on Monday virtually ruled out giving special status to Bihar which is one of the key demands of the Janata Dal (United), a constituent of the NDA government, drawing sharp reaction from the RJD which has demanded the resignation of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over the issue.

The RJD, in a post on ‘X’ in Hindi, slammed the BJP-JD(U) alliance and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar have given the Bihar ‘special state’ toy.

It further said that Nitish Kumar bowed down to the BJP and lowered demand from special state to special package but that was also refused.

The RJD has also demanded that Kumar tender his resignation for failing to get the special category status.

Earlier, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said the Special Category Status for plan assistance was granted in the past by the National Development Council (NDC) to some states that were characterized by a number of features necessitating special consideration.

These features included hilly and difficult terrain; low population density and/or sizeable share of population; strategic location along borders with neighbouring countries; economic and infrastructural backwardness; and non viable nature of state finances.

The decision was taken based on an integrated consideration of the factors mentioned above and the peculiar situation of a state.

”Earlier, the request of Bihar for Special Category Status was considered by an Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) which submitted its Report on 30 March, 2012. The IMG came to the finding that based on existing NDC criteria, the case for Special Category Status for Bihar is not made out,” Mr Chaudhary said.

Reacting to the Union government’s response on special category status for the state, RJD leader Manoj Jha said, “Bihar will get the special state status, by hook or crook. We have been demanding this for so long. Nitish Kumar failed to get this (status). Just by one sign, it can be given but they (the Central government) don’t want to give this status.”

Meanwhile, Union minister Giriraj Singh said the government has not dismissed the request.

“Lalu Prasad Yadav needs to understand. When he was allying with the Congress and had turned kingmaker and a law existed which could give a special status to Bihar, why did he not try to bring Bihar under the Special Category Status. PM Narendra Modi allotted Rs 1.25 lakh crore package for the state and spent Rs 2 lakh crore on top of it. Purvanchal cannot progress without a developed Bihar,” he said.

Reacting on the Centre’s response on special category status for the state, Bihar Congress chief and MP Akhilesh Prasad Singh said, “Ever since Nitish Kumar became the CM, he has been raising the issue of Special Status for Bihar. If there is no such provision, amend the provisions. You are in power, why are you misleading the people? The Government of India should take this decision at the earliest, in the interest of Bihar.”