Opposition demands special status for six states

NEW DELHI: With general elections due in two months, Lok Sabha saw on its last day today members raising demands for special status to six backward states, including Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

Interestingly, BJP and JD(U), which parted ways a few months back, were united in demanding special status for Bihar, as recommended by the Raghuram Rajan Committee, saying the UPA government has "failed" to provide justice to the state despite its overall backwardness.

The issue was raised during Zero Hour by BJP member Uday Singh who said UPA government was discriminating against Bihar and it should provide special status to the state.

"Before the tenure of UPA government comes to an end, it must accord special status to Bihar," he said.

BJP leader Yashwant Sinha alleged that the Central government has been sitting over the report of the Raghuram Rajan Committee instead of taking action on it.

He asked why cannot the Centre accord special status to the six states, including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, as recommended by the Raghuram Rajan Committee.

However, RJD members Raghuvansh Prasad Singh and Prabhunath Singh tried to disrupt Sinha's speech by saying that when NDA was in power, they did not do anything for Bihar.

Shailendra Kumar (SP) demanded a special financial package of Rs 80,000 crore for Uttar Pradesh.

Participating in the debate, JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav said grave injustice has been meted out to Bihar by the Central government by not granting special status to it.

"When injustice keeps happening, the country becomes weak and finally it leads to its disintegration," he said.