RJD president Lalu rejects Nitish's proposal

Patna, Apr 5: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad today virtually rejected the proposal of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to lead an all party delegation to New Delhi to impress upon Prime Minister Manmohan Singh the need to accord special category status to Bihar.

''Why should we join the NDA in demanding special staus for Bihar?''he quipped at a press conference here.

Earlier, in the day Mr Kumar had proposed to lead an all party delegation in support of a resolution adopted by the state assembly urging the Centre to include Bihar in the list of special category states to make it eligible for receiving funds generaously.

Mr Prasad lambasted the NDA government in Bihar for its alleged lack of vision for development and accused Mr Kumar of making announcement for construction of small bridges in rural areas and launching of rural employment guarantee scheme in 15 districts without providing funds.

UNI