The Janata Dal (United) on Saturday passed a resolution demanding special category status or a special financial package for Bihar at the party’s national executive meeting, The Indian Express reported.

The special status category is given to states that face various disadvantages, including hilly and difficult terrain, economic and infrastructural backwardness, strategic location along international borders and low population density.

At the meeting on Saturday, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Jha was appointed as the working president of the Janata Dal (United).

Another resolution was passed by the party seeking strong action against those responsible for the alleged question paper leaks in the National Eligibility-Cum-Entrance Test for admissions to undergraduate medical courses. The party also demanded strict legislation against such leaks.

After the meeting, Janata Dal (United) national spokesperson KC Tyagi told reporters that party chief Nitish Kumar had announced he would always be a part of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance, ANI reported.

In January, Kumar returned to the NDA after leaving the coalition only 18 months earlier. He became the chief minister of Bihar for the ninth time, with the support of the BJP.

In the recent Lok Sabha election, the BJP won 240 Lok Sabha seats, a significant dip from its tally of 303 seats in 2019. As it fell short of the majority mark of 272 seats, it had to depend on its coalition partners in the National Democratic Alliance, including the Janata Dal (United), to form the government.

On Saturday, Janata Dal (United) leader Ashok Choudhary told reporters that the demand for special status for Bihar was an old one.

“Our leaders Lallan Singh, Sanjay Jha, who are here in Rajya Sabha and the party leaders in Lok Sabha, they will meet the Prime Minister in the coming time and put forth their point [for special status] strongly,” he said.

Bihar has been demanding special status ever since mineral-rich Jharkhand was carved out of the state in 2000. Kumar has been at the forefront of demanding Bihar’s inclusion in the category.

The idea of special status was introduced in 1969 after the Union government acknowledged that several states were more disadvantaged than others.

However, the concept of the status was no longer in use after the Union government accepted the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission in 2015, The Indian Express reported. The NITI Aayog, which replaced the Planning Commission, could no longer allocate funds. This prevents the Union government from doling out special favours to states through the commission.

A major advantage states received under the special status category was the Union government giving 90% of the funds for the implementation of centrally-sponsored schemes. The states in the category had to contribute only 10%.

Other states pooled in 40% of the funding for such schemes while the Union government contributed 60%.

‘Will go to SC on reservation stayed by Patna HC’

Tyagi on Saturday also said it was decided during the meeting that the party would move the Supreme Court against the Patna High Court’s stay on the law to increase caste-based reservations in education and government jobs from 50% to 65%.

On June 20, the High Court struck down amendments made by the Bihar legislature to increase the quota.

The Bihar legislature had passed a bill to raise the quota slabs in November. The bill aimed to increase the reservations for Scheduled Castes to 20%, up from 16%. The quota for Scheduled Tribes was to be doubled from 1% to 2%.

It also raised the reservations for the Other Backward Classes to 15% from 12% and for the Extremely Backward Classes to 25% from 18%. Combined with another 10% reservation for the Economically Weaker Sections, the total quota limit in the state would have increased to 75%.