23 May 2009, 0407 hrs IST, TNN
PATNA: Chief minister Nitish Kumar on Friday expressed hope that the newly-formed UPA government at the Centre would be more friendly towards
Bihar and the state’s NDA government than the earlier UPA government.
“There should be no problem as the person (read RJD chief Lalu Prasad), who created hurdles (in flow of funds from Centre etc) is no longer there on the board,” Nitish told journalists on Friday. He said the Congress and its allies have got a near-majority and “we respect the mandate given to them”. Similarly, they should also respect the mandate given by the people of Bihar to the NDA government in Patna, he said.
As for his expectations from the Centre, Nitish said he wants the Centre to give special category state status to Bihar. “When I raised the matter on May 15, all political parties supported it,” he recalled.
He also expected the Centre to decide quickly on the Kosi rehabilitation package and take measures to remove the confusion created due to wrong accounting of the Rs 1,000 crore given to the state by the Centre for undertaking relief measures for the victims of the Kosi deluge. “PM Manmohan Singh himself had telephoned me to assure that he would have a relook into the matter,” Nitish said.
The Bihar CM further said the Union government should remove the embargo on the sugar industry for producing ethanol. “We have passed a bill on production of ethanol in Bihar and we want the Centre to accept it,” he said and also sought a coal linkage to the state so that its power production projects could come into existence.
He strongly opposed the reported move of Trinamool Congress to get the Left Front government of West Bengal dismissed. “Nothing could be more unethical than the dismissal of a duly-elected government,” Nitish said and recalled he had also opposed a move for the dismissal of the Mulayam Singh Yadav government in UP.
Nitish said the NDA’s win in 80% of the state’s Lok Sabha seats has given greater responsibility to the state government. “We will increase the pace of development programmes,” he said.
He pointed out that even if the Congress, RJD and LJP had fought the Lok Sabha elections unitedly in Bihar, the NDA would have still won. “In such a situation, our votes would have increased. As it is, we have got more votes than the votes jointly polled by the former UPA allies — Congress, RJD, LJP, NCP and CPM,” he said.
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