Nitish Kumar skipped NITI Aayog meet over refusal of special category status to Bihar: CPI(ML) Liberation leader

JD(U) leaders were tight-lipped over the absence of Nitish Kumar, the party president, at the NITI Aayog meeting held in Delhi (File)
| Photo Credit: PTI

The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation [CPI(ML)L], a constituent of the INDIA bloc, claimed, that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar skipped the NITI Aayog meeting out of embarrassment over the Centre’s refusal to grant special category status to the State.

The party also slammed the National Democratic Alliance-led (NDA) Central government for “misleading” people over the special package and announced protest marches next month.

However, JD(U) leaders were tight-lipped over the absence of Nitish Kumar, the party president, at the NITI Aayog meeting held in Delhi on July 27.

The CM held a party meeting in Patna on July 27 to discuss preparations for Assembly polls in neighbouring Jharkhand.

Mehboob Alam, CPI(ML)L leader in the Bihar Assembly, said, “I must say that Kumar skipped the meeting out of embarrassment over the refusal of the Centre to grant special category status to Bihar.”

“He should have attended the crucial meeting… He has once again lost the opportunity to seek special category status for Bihar and inclusion of the State’s amended reservation laws in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution,” he added.

The Ninth schedule includes a list of Central and State laws that cannot be challenged in the court.

Another CPI(ML)L MLA Ajeet Kumar Singh expressed similar views saying, “The CM’s decision to skip the NITI Aayog meeting shows that he is least bothered about the welfare of the people of Bihar.”