Bihar Chief Minister (CM) Nitish Kumar today announced that special category status will be granted to ‘all the backward states’ if a non-BJP government comes to power at the Centre in the Lok Sabha elections in 2024. He made the remark in reply to a query from journalists on the sidelines of a function in Patna.
The announcement comes in the backdrop of his recent visit to Delhi where he met several Opposition leaders in his bid to stitch together a united alliance of Opposition parties to take on Narendra Modi at the Centre. He recently broke ties with BJP and joined the seven-party 'Mahagathbandhan' (Grand Alliance) comprising RJD, Congress and the Left. The JD(U) has been raising the demand for special category status to Bihar for quite some time.