Patna, April 4 (IANS): Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav on Wednesday dared Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to demand special status for the state from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"If Nitish Kumar is a strong leader, he should directly demand special category status for Bihar from Prime Minister Modi," Tejashwi, an RJD leader and former Deputy Chief Minister, told the media here while releasing a report card of the state's National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government led by Nitish Kumar.
Tejashwi said it was Nitish Kumar, who played the spoilsport as a Union Minister in the NDA government led by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee when the then RJD government in Bihar had demanded special status.
"Nitish Kumar is solely responsible for denial of special category status to Bihar when he was a Union Minister. Later, he aggressively launched a demand for it when came to power a decade ago. Now he has forgotten his longstanding demand to save his chair. Why Nitish Kumar is not demanding special status for Bihar from Modi, his ally," he asked.
Tejashwi said Nitish Kumar should take some lesson from TDP chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, who had demanded special category status for his state from Modi and walked out of the NDA when denied this.
"Nitish Kumar should follow Naidu," said RJD leader while releasing the report card, titled "The Lovers of Chair, the Killers of Bihar".