Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar addresses reporters outside the Assembly on Friday. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, July 15: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar today put the special status ball in the court of the Prime Minister, a day after a delegation of JD(U) leaders met Manmohan Singh and extracted assurance of a “re-look” at the issue.

Singh, according to the delegation leaders, also said that the matter would be discussed at the National Development Council (NDC) meeting.

“If the Prime Minister wants, Bihar can be given special status, Whatever happens in the NDC is only with the support of the Prime Minister and the Union government. If he wants, it can be done,” Nitish said.

He expressed happiness that the Prime Minister had given time to the delegation and heard them out. The delegation, however, could not submit the crore-plus signatures the JD(U) has collected in support of the demand because of their sheer volume.

“At least the lack of communication with the Prime Minister on this issue has been broken,” Nitish said.

The chief minister pointed out that he had been demanding time from the Prime Minister’s Office for an appointment to an all-party delegation on the issue since 2006.

“Special status for the state has been our sustained demand because Bihar has had to face historical negligence. Had the freight equalization policy not been introduced, most of the industries would have been set up here and there would have been no need to make such a demand,” Nitish said.

The chief minister said the demand was justified. “Bihar has the lowest per capita investment and is behind in all development indicators. We have an international border and face recurring floods for which neither the state nor the country has a solution. Bihar’s case for special status is strong,” he said.

Nitish said Bihar was now a performing state and therefore it was necessary that the Centre consider the demand. “We want the Centre to help us attain the national average of development indicators. Else, despite being a performing state, it will take a substantial time to reach the national level,” he said.

Nitish took a dig at the Congress-led UPA government over the Mumbai blasts. “The Congress and the central government do not appear serious about terror attacks. At a time when the entire nation should stand united, there are different voices within the Congress,” he said.

He also took a swipe at political adversary Lalu Prasad for his reported statement expressing concern over internal security. Referring to Lalu Prasad’s continued isolation from the cabinet, Nitish said now that the ministerial reshuffle was over, the RJD leader was “speaking in a different voice”.