Congress threatens agitation if Centre delays Jharkhand Bill

Congress threatens agitation if Centre delays Jharkhand Bill
UNITED NEWS OF INDIA

RANCHI, APRIL 15: The Congress on Saturday announced that it will take to the streets and storm Parliament if the Bihar State Re-organisation Bill, 2000 was not cleared during the current session.

Talking to reporters here, Congress Legislature Party leader and Bihar Road Construction Minister Furkan Ansari said his party was committed to ensuring early creation of the new State.

It would expose the National Democratic Alliance both inside and outside Parliament if the statehood bill was not passed in the budget session of Parliament. The bill is likely to be returned to the Centre by the end of this month with a positive opinion of the State Legislature.

Assuring a positive opinion on the re-organisation Bill during the special session of the Bihar Legislature convened on April 24, he said, "we have stood by our commitment. Now it is the turn of the NDA to prove its honesty on the statehood issue." Charging the Bharatiya Janata party with conspiring to delay the State's creation, Ansari said it was to the credit of the Congress that even the Rashtriya Janata Dal, which was opposed to bifurcation of Bihar, has agreed to part away with 18 districts of South Bihar for creation of the new State.

On nomenclature, he personally felt that it should not be made an issue at the moment. "Creation of the State should be made an issue at the moment. Creation of the State should be our priority," he added.

Ansari, who was talking to the press after meeting senior Congressmen at the residence of party leader Roshan Lal Bhatia here challenged the legality of the chargesheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation against Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi in the disproportionate assets case.

When asked as to how long the Congress would continue to defend the chargesheeted Chief Minister, he said, "there is no way of defending anyone, the chargesheet against Rabri Devi was politically motivated."