Nitish Kumar meets Narendra Modi, talks about Bihar

Bihar Chief Nitish Kumar on Thursday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi and contended that his state will lose an estimated Rs 50,000 crore if the 14th Finance Commission’s recommendations are implemented.

“Bihar will have a loss of Rs. 10,000 crore in 2015-16… The state is under strife because many schemes that are sponsored by the centre have been stopped,” Mr Kumar said the media after the meeting.

The Chief Minister said the Centre’s share in Centrally-sponsored schemes has been decreased. “Altogether, it has been a loss to Bihar. That is why I have requested that Bihar should be compensated for this,” Kumar told reporters.

“The second issue that I have raised is that there is a question mark now also on the special assistance that Bihar used to get under BRGF (Backward Regions Grant Fund) after the bifurcation of the state in 2000. Our doubts should be resolved. We should get that money and we should keep getting that money even in future,” he said.

Kumar, who had snapped his party JD (U)’s 17-year-old alliance with BJP in 2013 after it projected Modi as Prime Ministerial candidate for 2014 polls, met the Prime Minister for the first time since the Chief Minister stepped into office again in February, 2015.