A key aide of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has said that the Janata Dal United is “tired” of requesting special category status for the state and cannot keep raising the demand “indefinitely”.
“We are not going to raise the demand any more. How long can we go on doing so? Hum log thak gaye hain (We are tired). We cannot go on raising the demand anvarat (indefinitely),” said Vijendra Yadav, a former state JDU president and a cabinet member, in reply to queries from journalists about the demand on Monday.
He shrugged at questions that the stance might cause the JDU to face criticism from the Opposition, given Nitish’s proclaimed commitment to securing special category status for Bihar.
The Congress lashed out at the JDU for the comment saying it exposed the “duplicity” of the party on the issue.
“Now it is clear that special category status was just a political stunt for the JDU. It never meant business. We will expose the party before the people,” AICC media panellist and MLC Prem Chandra Mishra said.
Nitish, an NDA ally, had raised many eyebrows when he had said before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls that he would support “any government” that promised to grant the status to Bihar.
