Shaibal a bargaining chip in Nitish’s special status demand?

Patna,(BiharTimes): As a part of his move to further bargain his position with the Congress, chief minister Nitish Kumar on Monday urged member-secretary of ADRI, Shaibal Gupta, who is one of the six members of Raghuram Rajan committee set up by the Centre to look into backwardness of states, to put forth the case of Bihar in a forceful and convincing manner or quit.

Speaking at a function organized to mark the 77th birthday of former chief minister Jagannath Mishra, Nitish made it clear that special status remained one of his chief goals.

However, it is other thing that during the recent political turmoil the issue could not be highlighted much.
Pointing towards Shaibal Gupta, who was seated in the front row of the Indira Gandhi Planetarium auditorium, Nitish said earlier, the Centre rejected Bihar’s concern at the inter-ministerial meeting but later it formed a special committee to frame new criteria for backwardness. One of the members is sitting over here.

He then said “I want you to put our case strongly. The Committee is not just for holding meetings…If your words are not heard, I think there is no good reason to continue. There is a lot of expectation from the people and it is related to everyone’s emotion.”

The chief minister went on to remind Shaibal of the “historic responsibility” he had to play.

However, Shaibal Gupta sought to play down Nitish’s remarks, saying they were made in a “lighter vein” and not in a “serious way” and that there is no breakdown in the Committee.