Chief minister Nitish Kumar addresses the rally at Pandit Nehru Stadium in Muzaffarpur on Saturday. Picture by Gopi Raman

Muzaffarpur, Sept. 22: Chief minister Nitish Kumar today said the UPA government should amend the criteria of special category status for Bihar’s benefit or else be prepared for an early election.

Addressing a meeting of JD(U) workers at Pandit Nehru Stadium here to garner support for the November 4 Adhikar Rally in the state capital, he said the UPA government would face a debacle in the next general elections if it did not accord special category status to Bihar and pave the way for its development.

“The JD(U) will win all 40 (Lok Sabha) seats in the state, as the party has made the people aware of the need for a special status,” Nitish said.

“Bihar is still a backward state and it will take at least 25 more years before it gets a position in the national arena. The Centre should consider our case and grant the special category status for a speedy development,” he added.

Nitish said he had minutely studied the challenges before the state to attain the national average in electricity, literacy, health, human resources, per capita income, infrastructure and industrial growth. “I think Bihar will take at least 25 years to achieve the targets. The people are in no mood to wait for that long,” he added.

Nitish said the state has witnessed colossal loss of lives, property and assets because of the floods in the northern part.