The JD(U)’s Adhikar rally in Delhi on Sunday evoked wholehearted praise from the party’s Bihar ruling ally BJP while the state’s Opposition parties dubbed it both as a failure and a sham aimed at political gains for chief minister Nitish Kumar.
BJP leaders attending the party’s state executive committee meeting in Patna refrained from publicly airing their anguish at being kept away from the JD(U)’s mega event at the national capital organised ostensibly to demand special category state status for Bihar. They insisted that the demand was no individual party’s private cause and belonged to Bihar’s 10.4 crore people.
CM Nitish Kumar’s forceful presentation of Bihar’s “rightful demands” at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan and his call for special economic aid for other backward states were hailed by JD(U) leaders as a major success. They hoped solid gains towards special status for Bihar to emerge from Kumar’s scheduled meetings with PM Manmohan Singh and Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Monday. “Our ally (JD-U) has raised this demand in an impressive manner in Delhi, and we welcome it. Bihar is going to be the ultimate gainer. The BJP, as the ruling ally in Bihar, has always supported this demand,” said Dharmen-dra Pradhan, BJP RS member and Bihar in-charge.
BJP national spokesman Shahnawaz Hussain said: “Only a BJP-led NDA government at the Centre can grant special state status to Bihar and other backward states. The Congress does not care for backward states’ need for growth”.
RJD general secretary Ram Kripal Yadav and LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan described the JD(U)’s Adhikar rally as a failure. “We have organised much bigger rallies. This rally only reflected Nitish Kumar’s political ambitions for 2014,” said Paswan. Yadav said the crowd at the rally were hired and that few of them were from Bihar.
“There was no need for this rally because the Centre has already reacted positively to the demand for special state status. The rally only served Nitish Kumar’s desire to magnify his image on national stage,” said senior Congress leader Premchand Mishra.