Uproar in RS over special economic package for 7 states

Ravi Shankar Prasad (BJP) said Finance Minister P Chidambaram had on a visit to Patna assured Bihar of special assistance but the same has not come. He charged the Centre with discriminating against Bihar and other backward states.

Mayawati (BSP) said she was hoping the Prime Minister will announce a package for seven most backward states along with package for Seemandhra.

"State creation does not help unless special package is given," she said citing poor growth rate in recently created states of Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand.

She alleged that the Centre was politicising the issue and ignoring Uttar Pradesh as neither Congress nor BJP was in power in the state.

Sukhendu Sekhar Roy (TMC) said West Bengal is saddled with over Rs 2 lakh crore of debt his party inherited from the previous regimes.