Union minister from JD (U) strikes different note on SCS

Dheeraj Kumarr | NT

Patna: Even as Bihar CM Nitish Kumar is reviving his demand for special category status (SCS) to the state, union minister and senior party leader RCP Singh on Thursday asserted that if the SCS has to be given to any state, Odisha will be first to get it.

Singh, a former IAS officer from UP cadre and also former JD (U) president, is the only minister from the party in Narendra Modi cabinet.

Making a reference to the erstwhile Planning Commission (PC) on the issue of special status, Singh said Odisha will be accorded the special status first since it came under the consideration of the PC first for the purpose. He said Bihar needs special status but it is also necessary that the state gets maximum benefits of development. The Planning Commission disapproved Nitish’s demand to grant SCS to Bihar in 2012 itself even as he had alleged that the Centre’s Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) did not consider the issue with seriousness.

Singh said in a special category state, the Centre-state funding of centrally-sponsored schemes is split in the ratio of 90:10, than the 60:40 or 80:20 splits in other (non-SCS) states.

The Minister said Bihar is the victim of perennial floods as rivers originating from Nepal inundates land in the north. He said floods ravage villages and destroy road network, adding that special attention needs to be given for special problem. The political circle in Bihar is already agog with speculation that Singh is inching closer towards BJP and that was the reason he was awarded with the ministerial berth in the union cabinet. Even Singh’s induction into the union cabinet has ruffled senior JD (U) leaders’ feathers with Nitish not congratulating him immediately on getting the ministerial post.

On the other hand, Singh’s statement must have given some relief to BJP as the party has always been apprehensive of demand for special status growing by states such as Odisha, Andhra and Jharkhand with Nitish raking up the issue again.