Nitish hails Union Budget, says it addressed state's concerns

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday said the "special help" announced in the Union Budget addressed the state's concerns, which had previously led to demands for special category status.

Speaking to reporters at the Vidhan Sabha premises shortly after the Budget presentation Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament, Kumar, a key ally of the ruling NDA, said, "We had proposed that if special status wasn't feasible for technical reasons, Bihar should receive special assistance (vishesh madat) from the Centre in another form, which has been announced today." The JD(U) supremo evaded a direct reply to a query as to whether he was giving up the demand for special status, and when asked if he was happy with the budget, reacted with a categorical "Haan, bhai (yes, of course).

He also trained his guns at the RJD-Congress-Left combine, which had disrupted the day's proceedings over denial of special status to Bihar.