In a poke at the political hot potato of Bihar’s strong demand for special category status for the state, adviser to the Prime Minister on pubic information infrastructure and innovations Sam Pitroda on Sunday said that Bihar does not need a special status.
“Bihar has enough resources at its disposal to develop on its own and there is no need to grant it a special category state status to help attract private investments,” said Dr Pitroda to journalists.
“Everybody is asking for special assistance, including states like West Bengal, Assam, Kerala and Bihar. It is not possible for the Centre to meet such demands from all states as it has its own limitations,” Dr Pitroda added.
Dr Pitroda, who was in Patna to be the chief guest of the Chandragupta Institute of Management’s third convocation ceremony, said special status for Bihar was not necessary for it to attract investments. “Investors’ decisions on setting up industrial units depend on factors such as the availability of resources and infrastructure anywhere in the country,” he said.
Bihar’s Nitish Kumar-led NDA government has continued a long-running campaign seeking special category state status from the Centre.
On March 26, a delegation of officials from Bihar led by chief secretary Navin Kumar presented Bihar’s case before an inter-ministerial group in Delhi to justify the state’s demand for special status. Kumar has been arguing that Bihar has “both facts and logic” to justify being granted a special status.
Dr Pitroda’s statements are likely to evoke a fresh bout of political debates on the propriety of Mr Kumar’s insistence on the special status.
The state Congress party has been claiming that the state is unfit for such a status and that the NDA has been using the demand as a political campaign.
With the Opposition parties slamming the state government for inadequate spending of development funds this fiscal, the government would be at a loss to push for its special status demand. Dr Pitroda also had a brief courtesy meeting with Mr Kumar in Patna.