New Delhi, March 26: Nitish Kumar today met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, their first official meeting in two years, to seek the Centre's cooperation for Bihar's development.
The two leaders haven't met officially since the Bihar chief minister snapped ties with the BJP in 2013 over his then Gujarat counterpart Modi's projection as candidate for Prime Minister. They did meet for a while a few weeks ago, at the wedding reception of RJD chief Lalu Prasad's daughter in New Delhi.
Nitish urged the media not to read any political meaning in today's meeting and said the visit was to press for Bihar's due share and central assistance.
'I had discussions on cooperation and assistance from the Centre. I told the Prime Minister that Bihar stands to lose as per the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission and asked for adequate central assistance,' Nitish said after the meeting held at the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) in South Block.
Asked whether the meeting with Modi was indicative of a likely political realignment ahead of the state elections, Nitish responded with folded hands. 'Ye sab bekar hai (All this is rubbish),' he said before walking away.
The PMO too termed the visit a 'courtesy' meet and tweeted photographs of the meeting. As he did with Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, the Prime
Minister reminded Nitish about the 'largesse' showered by the Centre on Bihar in their 40-minute meeting, sources said.
The sources added that Modi's reminder came only because certain Janata Dal United leaders had allegedly spread the word that Bihar had not gained anything from the general budget.
Nitish, however, claimed that Bihar stands to lose an estimated Rs 50,000 crore following the Centre's acceptance of the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission apart from the loss accruing from the denial of 'special assistance' under the Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF).
'I requested the Prime Minister to compensate Bihar for the huge loss,' Nitish said.
Nitish also flagged his pet 'special status' demand to Bihar but this time the issue did not appear to be prominent on his agenda.
Though Nitish sought to deny any political overtones, in political corridors his meeting with Modi was seen as an effort by the JDU leader to sweep aside his political differences with the BJP leader and look for a new beginning in view of the upcoming Bihar elections.
Sources close to Nitish said that by meeting Modi and seeking assistance for Bihar's development, the JDU leader was attempting to regain the development plank he had built as a big political agenda.
JDU leaders believe the development discourse had taken a backseat under Nitish's predecessor Jitan Ram Manjhi and there was an urgent need to regain that plank ahead of the state elections scheduled for winter this year.
'We want to go to the people with the same development plank that had fetched us huge support in the last elections. We want to seek votes on a positive agenda and not by abusing the BJP and Modi,' said a JDU leader.
If Nitish tried to use the meeting with Modi to his political advantage, the BJP too tried to score over the political rival.
Bihar BJP leaders such as Sushil Modi have embarked on a counter propaganda to 'prove' that far from being short-changed, Bihar was the second largest beneficiary after Uttar Pradesh from the general budget among all the states.
Sushil Modi picked out the Rs 381 lakh crore financial package for Bihar, an independent coal block, expansion of the Barauni power plant and a mega food park as the biggest goodies unrolled by the Narendra Modi government.
Hours after Nitish called on the Prime Minister, Sushil Modi, once close to the JDU leader, posted pictures of a lathi-charge on protesting students in Bihar and asked if this was the chief minister's model of governance.
