Bhubaneswar, March 1: The Central government has rekindled Odisha’s hope of obtaining the status of a special category state.

In his budget speech, Union finance minister P. Chidambaram said he would revisit the criteria for according a special category state status. He said emphasis would be given on illiteracy, poverty and underdevelopment.

Based on Chidambaram’s statement, the Odisha unit of the Congress today urged the central government to accord a special category status to the state, saying it had been a “long-standing and justified demand”.

“This is to convey the gratitude of the people of states such as Odisha and Bihar for your decision to amend the criteria for special category status,” Odisha Congress president Niranjan Patnaik stated in a letter sent to Chidambaram.

Patnaik also said he would advise the legislators of his party to bring a proposal in the Odisha Assembly to pass a resolution to thank the Union finance minister for the initiative.

“I hope the central government will take the next logical step and Odisha will soon be declared a special category state.

“This has been a long-standing and justified demand of the state and we look forward to its early fulfilment,” Patnaik said.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has already welcomed Chidambaram’s move, while his Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik is yet to react on this issue.

However, state’s panchayati raj minister Kalpataru Das said: “Without revisiting the clause pertaining to the special category states, the Centre had already announced a special package for Bihar.

“They should first announce Odisha as a special category state.”

Naveen had been pressing for the special category status to Odisha for a long time now, citing the state as one of the poorest in the country.

He had also written a number of letters to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reiterating his demand for declaration of Odisha as a special category state.

He had even sought Singh’s personal intervention in the matter.

“Odisha satisfies all conditions of a special category state except that it has no international border.

“In almost all sectors, the state’s position is similar to that of other special category states.

“Both you and the planning commission are aware of this fact.

“However, no positive steps appears to have been taken by the Central government so far”, Naveen had said at the National Development Council meeting last year.