In a move to intensify his long-going demand of giving special status to Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is all set to address a rally at Ram Lila Maidan in New Delhi.
Thousands of supporters from Bihar and other parts of the country have reached to Ram Lila ground in New Delhi as being part of 'Adhikar' rally. The leaders of other parties are also expected from the dais.
In a bid to fulfill his year-long demand for getting more financial help and concessions from the union government, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has called this rally as part of culminating this campaign.
Trains have been bringing in thousands of Janata Dal (United) activists to the capital in the last few days for Kumar's 'Adhikar' rally at the Ramlila grounds, where other party leaders will also be speaking.
Talking to reporters after his arrival in Delhi yesterday, Kumar said that the JDU rally is an attempt to get the rights of Bihar, which will also benefit other backward states.
He said it is not any display of power but an attempt to get the right of backward state.
Stating that the fight for special status for Bihar has reached a decisive stage, Kumar had earlier said that faster development of backward states would help India achieve inclusive growth.
In his budget speech on February 28, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram had said, "It may be more relevant to use measures like distance of the state from the national average under criteria such as per capita income, literacy and other human development indicators. I propose to evolve new criteria and reflect them in future planning and devolution of funds."
Welcoming the announcement, Kumar had said in Patna it was a victory in-principle for Bihar in view of its consistent demand for grant of special status.
"Our repeated efforts in the direction to revise existing criteria to decide new parameters for identifying backward states like Bihar have been acknowledged in Union budget," Kumar added.
The rally comes amid demands from sections of the BJP for projecting Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the party's prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
The JD-U rally comes a day after Modi delivered a speech at the India Today conclave, putting forth his vision for national development.
Nitish Kumar has opposed the bid to project Modi as prime ministerial candidate.
The rally will also be addressed by other leaders of his Janata Dal-United (JD-U), an ally of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the National Democratic Alliance.
--With Agencies Inputs--
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