Begusarai, May 5: The BJP today came out in support of the demand of chief minister Nitish Kumar for special category status to Bihar.

At the state working committee meet held today at Barauni, around 140km from Patna, several of the BJP’s central leaders spoke out in favour of special status, besides stressing on the need to strengthen the party.

General secretary and in-charge of Bihar affairs, Ananth Kumar, supported the demand for special category status. “Government at the Centre has a step-motherly attitude towards Bihar. Neither the Congress nor the Centre is in favour of Nitish’s demand for giving special category status to the state. Under the leadership of Nitishji and (Sushil Kumar) Modiji, Bihar is on the path of development. However, the state can develop more if the Centre gives support,” he said.

“There is no doubt that Bihar should get special category status and we will make sure that Bihar gets it. I would ask all members present here to raise their voice both in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in support of special category status demand,” he said.

Ananth called upon his partymen to prepare for launching a JP-like movement for the demand. “The time has come to prepare for launching a movement on the pattern of the JP movement of 1974 to press for special category status to Bihar,” he said. Once Bihar gets special category status, it can get significant excise duty concessions, which will attract a large number of industrial units to establish manufacturing facilities within their territory. But the state had largely failed to benefit from the growing market and the economy that is gaining ground in other parts of the country and the world at large.

Deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi said the parameters for granting special category status were not sacrosanct. “It’s not that the parameters cannot be changed, they are not any Act or law passed by Parliament. The Centre should change the parameters and grant special category status to the state. We will pressurize the central government by organising various programmes across Bihar,” he said.

Praising the present government, Ananth said: “During the Lalu era, it was jungle raj and regime of criminalisation existed but now, it is no more visible. Whatever Bihar is doing, other states are following it. For example the formation of the first agriculture cabinet in the country, which is now being followed by a state like Madhya Pradesh as well. That’s why I am saying that once Bihar gets special category status, more development work will take place. The Centre has a parochial attitude towards Bihar but they should stop looking at the state with such a mentality.”

“At the same time, we all need to work hard for strengthening the party so more and more people can relate themselves with it,” stressed Ananth. BJP state president C.P. Thakur called for opening of a management and IT institute in Begusarai.