Bihar should be granted special category status: Nitish

Ahead of attending a dinner meeting being hosted by BJP President Amit Shah in the national capital on Tuesday night, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said that the state should be granted special category status.

"We are still in favour of the special category status to Bihar. This issue is very important for us. We will continue to raise it," the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) chief told the media here on Tuesday.

Nitish Kumar also downplayed differences over his ally Bharatiya Janata Party's demand to abolish Article 370.

"There's no contradiction. We've always maintained Article 370 shouldn't be scrapped, Uniform Civil Code shouldn't be imposed, Ayodhya dispute should be resolved through mutual agreement/court's intervention. We've maintained this since we first forged an alliance with BJP."

He added that the BJP knows of his stand, but there was no dispute between the two parties.

Nitish also expressed confidence about the NDA's victory in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections.

Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan will also attend the dinner meeting.

--IANS

ik/ksk/bg