March 2, 2014: Jharkhand bandh

Ajsu party called the bandh as protest against the Centre not according special category status to Jharkhand

The Ajsu party today called a Jharkhand bandh on March two in protest against the Centre not according special category status to Jharkhand.

"The party has called the bandh to protest against the Centre ignoring our demand to accord Jharkhand special category status," Ajsu party spokesman Deo Sharan Bhagat told reporters here.

Yesterday, the Centre has decided to grant special category status to Seemandhara.

Stating that the opposition party has been agitating since August demanding special status to Jharkhand, he said "Despite the Raghuram Rajan Committee report rating the state as the fifth most backward region in the country our demand is not yet fulfilled."

He said that Ajsu party president Sudesh Mahto had met President Pranab Mukherjee in November last year to highlight why Jharkhand deserved special status.

Yesterday, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has also called a bandh in his state on the same day (March 2), terming as "betrayal" the UPA government's decision to grant special category status to Seemandhra while "ignoring" a similar demand made by his government.