Nitish misleading Centre, people of Bihar on special category demand: Sushil Modi

Patna,(BiharTimes): Bharatiya Janata Party, which had till June 16 been partner of the Nitish Kumar government and was thus supporting the special category status for Bihar, has made a U-turn in its stand on this issue.

Talking to the media on Thursday its leader and former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi charged chief minister Nitish Kumar with misleading the Union government and the people of the state on special status.

He alleged that Nitish provided wrong facts and figures to convince Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the people of Bihar to support the demand.

To substantiate his point he quoted the inter-ministerial group headed by Planning Commission member-secretary Sudha Pillai.

According to former deputy chief minister Sudha Pillai had said that facts and figures submitted by Nitish demanding special category status is not correct. By submitting false documents, Nitish has not only tried to mislead Manmohan Singh but also attempted to fool the people of Bihar, Modi added.

Though JD(U) never took BJP into confidence during its campaign for special category status the state government had then submitted the memorandum demanding special category status. BJP was then very much a part of the state government.

The former deputy chief minister said Nitish Kumar had been claming that if Bihar gets the special status, its share in the centrally-sponsored scheme would come down to 90:10 from the present 70:30 ratio, but a study of parameters of special status category reveals that there would be no such change.

Modi said, at present, the state government spends around Rs 4,000 crore in execution of Centre-funded schemes such as Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Indira Awas Yojana, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, National Rural Livelihood Mission etc. The Centre-state ratio differs from scheme to scheme in the 14 centrally funded programmes.

The BJP leader said the 11 states, which have got the special status have different parameters for getting funds under Centre-sponsored schemes.

While, according to him, Jammu and Kashmir gets 90 per cent funding for some schemes, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh get assistance like other states without special status.
On the other hand only the North-Eastern states get 90 per cent assi

stance in Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan while Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, like other states, get funds according to 65:35 ratio.

However, Modi tried to clarify that his party is not against Bihar getting the special status but the government should not beg for it. It is the right of Bihar and not a favour.