There should be some states in general category as well: FM

As several states echo the demand for special category status voiced by Bihar, finance minister P Chidambram on Saturday wondered who will be left "special" if everyone is included in that category. He refuted the charges that the Centre has discriminated against West Bengal in allocation of funds. "If all states are declared special, then nobody will be special," Chidambaram said at the National Editors Conference when asked about special category status demanded by some states, most prominently Bihar.

The Janata Dal (United), which heads the Bihar govrenment in an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party, recently held a rally in Delhi to reiterate its demand for special states. Chief minister Nitish Kumar had praised Chidambaram for assuring that the criteria for special category status might be changed.

After Bihar pressed for this demand, members cutting across party lines in the Odisha assembly had also urged the Centre to accord special status to the state. Earlier, Rajasthan and Jharkhand had also demanded the same.

So far, 11 states have been accorded this status--Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura and Uttarakhand--which are remote or hilly areas. If the four more states are given this status, more than half of the Indian states will be in that category.

Asked about West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee's allegations that the Centre is discriminating against the state in allocation of funds, the finance minister said funds were allocated to states as per the Constitution and recommendations of the Finance Commission. "No state is preferred, no state is discriminated against...Charge of discrimination is wrong and I reject the charge."

He further said he had never favoured the idea of special package for states. However, the new Finance Commission has been asked to look into the problems of debt-stressed states and advise the government on how to deal with them, Chidambaram said.

West Bengal has been demanding a three-year moratorium on interest payments by the state on loans by the Centre, approximately worth about Rs 20,000 a year. Generally, such a step is taken after recommendations by the Finance Commission.

To another query, Chidambaram differed from observations that the situation in Jammu and Kashmir was "back to square one" after the execution of Afzal Guru and hoped that people of the state would not heed to the call of separatists.

"I don't get the impression that we are back to square one... I agree that after the execution of Afzal Guru there have been some protests. I sincerely hope that violence will subside," said Chidambaram, who held the home ministry portfolio before assuming the charge of the finance ministry again last year.