NEW DELHI: Janata Dal (United) chief and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar Saturday appointed his confidante, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Jha, a BJP-friendly face as his number-two ( working president ), while reiterating his demand for special status or a special package for Bihar, an issue on which there have been differences between Centre & the state in the past.
"Time has come when state should get special status or a special package so that the script of a developed Bihar could be written," the party said in the resolution.
The decision was taken at a meeting of JD(U)'s national executive where the party reiterated its demand for special category status for Bihar, while adding that Centre could consider an alternative in a special package, its functionary Neeraj Kumar said.
JD(U) also demanded stringent action against culprits in paper leak cases and called for a strong law to rule out such incidents in future.
The decision to appoint Jha as working president is significant since he is known to have a good equation with BJP as he started his political innings with the saffron party before switching to JD(U). He also played a crucial role in reviving BJP-JD(U) alliance, which defied the challenge of INDIA bloc in Bihar.
Following his appointment, Jha said PM Modi has always paid attention to Bihar and expressed hope that the party's demand for special category status or a package for the state would be met.
Jha's elevation was welcomed by BJP. "We welcome Nitish Kumar's decision to appoint Sanjay Jha working president of JD(U). It's a move to promote NDA's stability as Jha has worked for better JD(U)-BJP ties since 2005," said BJP LS MP Vivek Thakur.
"Time has come when state should get special status or a special package so that the script of a developed Bihar could be written," the party said in the resolution.
The decision was taken at a meeting of JD(U)'s national executive where the party reiterated its demand for special category status for Bihar, while adding that Centre could consider an alternative in a special package, its functionary Neeraj Kumar said.
JD(U) also demanded stringent action against culprits in paper leak cases and called for a strong law to rule out such incidents in future.
The decision to appoint Jha as working president is significant since he is known to have a good equation with BJP as he started his political innings with the saffron party before switching to JD(U). He also played a crucial role in reviving BJP-JD(U) alliance, which defied the challenge of INDIA bloc in Bihar.
Following his appointment, Jha said PM Modi has always paid attention to Bihar and expressed hope that the party's demand for special category status or a package for the state would be met.
Jha's elevation was welcomed by BJP. "We welcome Nitish Kumar's decision to appoint Sanjay Jha working president of JD(U). It's a move to promote NDA's stability as Jha has worked for better JD(U)-BJP ties since 2005," said BJP LS MP Vivek Thakur.
