Patna, Jun 23: AICC General Secretary Shakeel Ahmad Saturday said any decision on forging ties either with RJD or JD(U) for the 2014 general elections would be taken up by a committee led by senior leader and union minister A K Antony.
"It will be decided by a party committee headed by Defence minister A K Antony at an appropriate time," Ahmad told reporters when asked of a future tie up with RJD or JD(U) in the next Lok Sabha elections.
Views of the new Congress in-charge of Bihar C P Joshi would also be taken, he said.
Congress had voted for Nitish Kumar in the confidence motion for defeating communal forces, Ahmad said.
Dismissing the claims of development by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, he said "the state ranks lower on all major indices of development which falsify the claims of development there."
"In per capita income, Gujarat ranks 10th among the states, in infrastructure 11th and in education the state figures at 14th place in the country," he said.
"The truth is that people do not want to marry their daughter in Saurashtra region of Gujarat as citizens have to walk 5 km to fetch water," he said.
Asked if growing closeness between Congress and Nitish Kumar means the state getting special category status, the Congress leader said there was no political consideration in providing central assistance.
"The UPA government in fact provided Rs 59,000 crore to Gujarat for annual plan while they had asked for Rs 58,500 crore," Ahmad said.
In reply to a question on why the devastation in Uttarakhand was not declared a national calamity, Ahmad said "these are technical issue decided by the Centre together with the respective state."
He, however, said the UPA government was trying to provide all assistance to fight the natural calamity in the Himalayan state.
