Patna: RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav on Wednesday mocked chief minister Nitish Kumar by asking him if he was demanding special status for Bihar from US President Donald Trump.

Nitish on Tuesday wrote a two-page note on Twitter, addressed to the 15th Finance Commission, arguing why Bihar needed "special and differentiated treatment".

Tejashwi wondered if Nitish was scared of directly approaching Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the same. He also accused Nitish of halting the special status demand. He said the Centre had agreed to give special status to Bihar when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was Prime Minister and his mother Rabri Devi chief minister, but Nitish, then a minister at the Centre, asked Vajpayee not to grant special status to Bihar.

"It is a double engine government in Bihar," Tejashwi said. "I am wondering who Nitish and Sushil Kumar Modi are asking for special status. Are they asking Donald Trump for the status? Nitish ji thinks the people are fools. I must say that Nitish Kumar should keep his backbone straight like Chandrababu Naidu. Bihar is seeking what it deserves and is not begging," Tejashwi said outside his 10 Circular Road residence. "Any rational economic strategy should foster both investment and devolution patterns which would enable these (backward) states to reach the national average within stipulated time frame. Our demand for special category status for Bihar emanates from this very premise. We have repeatedly raised the demand to the central government to accord special category status to Bihar...," Nitish said in the note, tagged to Union finance minister Arun Jaitley and chairman of the 15th finance commission, N.K. Singh, earlier a JDU MP.

Tejashwi held Nitish responsible for Bihar not getting the special category. "If there is one person responsible for Bihar not getting special category status, it is Nitish. He is chief minister for a long time but never made any attempt to get the status. Whatever Nitish is doing is just pretending that he is serious, but in reality he is not serious at all. Why can't he directly speak to Modi? Is he expecting any ghost to give special category status to Bihar," Tejashwi asked.

Tejashwi did not spare Prime Minister Modi either. He said if Modi cannot give central university status to Patna University how he will give special category status to Bihar? "Instead of writing letters to the finance commission, why can't Nitish directly speak to the PM? He'll not speak to him because he is scared of Modi and the BJP," Tejashwi said.