All-party meet: JD (U) seeks extension for ONOE panel, LJP industrial package for Bihar

New Delhi: BJP ally Janata Dal (United) has sought an extension in the tenure of the Joint Parliamentary Committee scrutinising the bills proposing simultaneous elections, while its another partner, LJP (Ram Vilas), has demanded a "special industrial package" for Bihar.

At the all-party meeting, sources said, JD(U) leader Sanjay Jha called for an extension in the tenure of the JPC, which was asked to submit its report by the first day of the last week of the Budget Session.

The party said it sought the extension as the committee has met only once and that such an important piece of legislation will require wide consultation.

Jha is a member of the 39-member committee formed to discuss what is often referred to as a One-Nation, One-Election (ONOE) proposal. The panel headed by BJP MP P P Chaudhary is scheduled to hold its second meeting on Friday.

Jha also wanted Parliament to discuss India's current position in Artificial Intelligence as he pointed out the waves that the Chinese upstart DeepSeek has created in the field, so far dominated by US firms.

With its claim of being a low cost AI foundational model at par with its world class rivals in performance, DeepSeek's sudden emergence has threatened the domination of western firms, especially OpenAI, and asserted the growing strength of China in the field.

At the meeting chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) MP Arun Bharti highlighted the huge gap between Bihar's per capita income with the national average, pitching for a special industrial package for the state.

He told reporters that his party had sought the Centre's financial assistance for Bihar to increase the size of its economy.

Another issue he raised was the "piling up" of vacancies in reserved category jobs for the reason of "not fit for selection" (NFS).

The government should bring a law to fill up the vacancies in a time-bound manner, Bharti added.