Nitish welcomes PC setting panel for backwardness; BJP fumes

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today said he will wait for the Centre's decision on granting special category to Bihar, despite ally BJP terming the government's proposal of forming a panel for deciding backwardness of states as an "illusory".

"The Centre has its own way of approaching an issue so what is the harm in waiting for good result," Kumar told reporters emerging from 'Janata Ke Darbar mein Mukhyamantri' programme at his residence.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram had on Saturday said a high-level sub-committee would be formed to decide fresh criteria for backwardness and the panel would be told to submit report in a month's time to decide which state qualified.

"I have no confusion what Chidambaram said on the issue," Kumar said.

Staing that the special status issue had reached "a critical stage" now, Kumar said if special status was not accorded to the state before general elections, it would be the topmost agenda of JD(U) in the 2014 polls.

Asked that though he was welcoming Chidambaram's announcement of setting a sub-committee to be headed by Chief Economic Advisor to Government of India Raghuram Rajan, his NDA partner BJP was describing it as "illusory", Kumar said "I cannot say about people looking into politics of it, for me it is an issue of sentiment attached with development of Bihar.