'Special category status' demands ring loud

Economic Survey to be tabled today, ahead of Budget on Tuesday. Oppn looks to put govt on the mat on issues ranging from UP order on Kanwar yatra to railway safety

- ARCHIS MOHAN

Regional parties, including those in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), made a concerted push for "special category status" for Bihar, Odisha, and Andhra Pradesh, on Sunday, on the eve of the Budget session of Parliament.

The government is set to present the Economic Survey on Monday; it will be followed by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman unveiling the Union Budget 2024-25 on Tuesday.

During an all-party meeting chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, the Janata Dal (United) and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), both part of the BJPled National Democratic Alliance (NDA), pressed for this status for Bihar.

Similarly, the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) demanded special category status for Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, respective ly. Seen as parties friendly to the BJP until the 2024 polls, the two have now taken a more assertive stance.

The BJP would lean for the passage of key Bills during the previous 17th Lok Sabha on the BJD. However, Naveen Patnaik's party, which lost power in Odisha in the recently concluded Assembly polls, showed during the Special session of Parliament that it would stand with the INDIA bloc on key issues. In Andhra Pradesh, the BJP is in alliance with the Telugu Desam, the YSRCP's principal rival.