New Delhi: At the customary all-party meeting held Sunday, ahead of the budget session of the Parliament which commences Monday, the issue of special status for Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha took centre stage.
At the meeting chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) former friends Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP), along with its current partner in the National Democratic Alliance, Janata Dal (United), voiced their demands for special status for their respective states.
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), part of the Opposition, also supported the demand of special status for Bihar.
Speaking to the media after the meeting, JD(U) MP Sanjay Kumar Jha said, “Bihar should get the status of a special state, this has been the demand of our party since the beginning. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has held big rallies for this demand. If the government feels that there is a problem in doing this, then we have demanded a special package for Bihar. We have also raised the problem of floods in Bihar.”
However, BJP’s other ally and YSRCP’s rival in Andhra Pradesh, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) “strangely kept quiet on the matter”, according to an X post by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh.
In today's all-party meeting of floor leaders chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, the JD(U) leader demanded special category status of Bihar. The YSRCP leader demanded special category status for Andhra Pradesh. Strangely, the TDP leader kept quiet on the matter.
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) July 21, 2024
BJD, which is now in the Opposition, reminded Defence Minister Singh and Rajya Sabha’s Leader of the House, J.P. Nadda, about BJP’s promise of special status for Odisha in its 2014 manifesto for the assembly polls, Ramesh wrote in another post. “How the political climate has changed!” he remarked.
BJD MP Sasmit Patra, who was present at the meeting, told reporters, “Odisha has been deprived of the special category status for more than two decades… Political parties from Bihar and Andhra Pradesh have also demanded special category status for their respective states.”
“The second issue is the non-revision of coal royalty for Odisha… We (BJD) raised the issue about the declining central transfer of funds and the need to work towards it…No action has been taken against the Governor of Odisha’s son, who had beaten a Raj Bhawan staffer, which is extremely shocking. The rule of law is not being followed by the state of Odisha,” he added.
YSRCP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Vijaysai Reddy said that the party raised the issues of special status for Andhra Pradesh and lawlessness in the state, among others, and appealed to the government to impose President’s rule in the state.
“TDP is not raising the issue of special category status. They have compromised with the issues of people,” he told the media.
The meeting saw sharp exchanges between YSRCP and TDP leaders, sources told ThePrint.
At the meeting, opposition parties also cautioned the government to avoid enforcing “divisive agenda”, like the Kanwar Yatra order by the Yogi Adityanath-led government in Uttar Pradesh, sources said.
Meanwhile, the defence minister, who chaired the meeting, advised leaders not to disrupt the speeches of senior leaders, referring to the disruption of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech during the last session.
Other key demands
Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh, K. Suresh and the party’s deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, Gaurav Gogoi, sought the position of Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker for the Opposition during the meeting, saying that it was the approach adopted by the governments before 2014 — from the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government to the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government under Manmohan Singh.
Suresh was INDIA bloc’s candidate in the election for the position of the speaker against Om Birla. The deputy speaker post was vacant from 2019 to 2024.
Gogoi also raised the demand for discussion on issues, like the NEET row and Manipur, and said that the Opposition should be allowed to raise issues in the Parliament, when Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju sought cooperation from all parties for the smooth functioning of both Houses.
Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party (SP), currently the third largest party in the Lok Sabha, criticised the Uttar Pradesh government’s controversial order for eateries and shops along the Kanwar Yatra route to display their owners’ names. The order has even drawn flak from BJP ally Jayant Chaudhary of Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), and Union minister and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) leader Chirag Paswan.
SP leader Ramgopal Yadav said that such a decision would create more division in the society. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supported SP on the issue.
All-India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi also spoke about the matter at the meeting. “We said that if any government passes an order against the Constitution, then the Government of India should take note of it. Issuing such an order is a violation of Article 17. They are promoting untouchability. It is against the right to life, you are against livelihood,” he told reporters after the meeting.
The opposition parties handed over a list of issues, ranging from distress in Manipur to unemployment, the NEET paper leak and frequent train accidents, to be prioritised for discussion in the three-week long budget session.
During the previous session, the Opposition had slammed PM Modi for not visiting Manipur and the BJP-led government’s approach on the NEET paper leak.
The budget session is set to begin on 22 July, and will have 19 sittings till 12 August 12. The PM Modi-led government will present the first full budget of its third term on 23 July. The Economic Survey 2024 will be tabled on the first day of the session.
The government intends to present six bills, including those to replace the 90-year-old Aircraft Act, and get Parliament’s nod for the budget of Jammu and Kashmir, which is under central rule.
Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Pramod Tiwari told reporters, “The way constitutional agencies are being misused, the deteriorating condition of the farmers, record-breaking unemployment and inflation… Manipur, rail accidents… We want to discuss all these issues.”
Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders were not in attendance at the meeting because of the Martyrs Day rally on 21 July, observed annually by TMC to mark the killing of 13 Congress supporters in 1993 in a Kolkata Police firing incident during a march to the state secretariat under the Communist Party of India(Marxist)-led Left Front government in West Bengal.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
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