New Delhi: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s demand for a special status for his state received a fillip with Finance Minister P Chidambaram disclosing that Bihar was the second least developed state in the country as per the Raghurajan Committee report.
The Congress has been wooing JD(U) for a post-poll alliance in 2014 and granting special status to Bihar is one of the sops that the Congress leadership has been promising to Nitish Kumar. Chidambaram’s disclosure is bound to bring JD(U) closer to the Congress, particularly with the Narendra Modi axis gaining ground.
As per the Raghurajan Committee report, Odisha is the least developed state. And along with Bihar, special status could be granted to Odisha as well, on the basis of the backward index. Congress managers feel that by granting special status to Odisha, its chief minister and Biju Janata Dal leader Naveen Patnaik could be convinced to stay neutral in the event of a hung Lok Sabha in 2014. This could benefit the UPA, they feel.
The other least developed states as per Raghurajan Committee are Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Arunachal, Assam, Meghalaya, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. The report was submitted earlier this month.
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