Patna,(BiharTimes): Deputy chief minister-cum-Finance Minister, Sushil Kumar Modi, is not hopeful that the Central government would give special status to Bihar before the general elections.

Talking to the media on Tuesday, a day ahead of Planning Commission meet in New Delhi, he said the UPA government is gasping for breath and it cannot deliver the special status to Bihar before next parliamentary elections that could take place as early as November.

Both Modi and chief minister Nitish Kumar are attending the meeting in the capital.

On Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s statement given in Patna last week that a sub-committee headed by Chief Economic Advisor Raghuram Rajan would be set up to frame criteria for backwardness in order to accommodate the special status aspiration of Bihar, Modi said it was nothing new as he had said as much during his Budget speech on February 26.

He described Chidambaram’s announcement as a delaying tactics.

Incidentally, while Modi sounded somewhat critical of Chidambaram the chief minister showed extra-ordinary courtesy towards him when he visited Nalanda and Patna last week.

Nitish took Chidambaram to the Congress party office in Sadaquat Ashram in his own car. The courtesy shown by him sparked off speculation in the political circle.

Dubbing the UPA government as non-serious Modi alleged that the UPA government has pushed the demand of special status into limbo.

However, he refused to comment on the good gesture shown by Nitish to the Union Finance Minister.