Patna, Sep 25 (IANS): Leader of Opposition in the Bihar assembly Tejashwi Yadav has written a letter to 33 top leaders of the country on the issue of a caste based census after it was refused by the Narendra Modi government.

These leaders are Sonia Gandhi, Parkash Singh Badal, Arvind Kejriwal, Sharad Pawar, Om Prakash Chautala, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, MK Stalin, Farooq Abdullah, Dipankar Bhattacharya, Hemant Soren, Mamata Banerjee, Uddhav Thackeray, K Chandrasekhar Rao, Ashok Gehlot, Charanjeet Singh Channi, O Panneerselvam, Chandrashekhar Azad, Akhilesh Yadav, Mayawati, Sitaram Yechuri, D Raja, Naveen Patnaik, Nitish Kumar, Jitan Ram Manjhi, Mukesh Sahani, Chirag Paswan, Om Prakash Rajveer, Akhtarul Imam, Jayant Chaudhary, Maulana Badruddin, P Vijayan, Bhupesh Baghel and Mehbooba Mufti.

Quoting the letter, Tejashwi Yadav said: "The central government has opted for a negative approach on caste based census. It is necessary in the country for the overall development of the person sitting in the last line of the society. BJP does not have a single logical reason for why it is against the caste based census."

The issue has created differences among NDA alliance partners in Bihar. Jitan Ram Manjhi, the president of Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) said: "We are in favour of a caste based census and the centre should rethink its decision.a

Mukesh Sahani, president of the Vikassheel Insan Party (VIP), announced to donate Rs 5 crore to conduct caste based census in Bihar.

"If Bihar government is taking a decision to conduct a caste based census in the state at its own expense, we will donate Rs 5 crore to the Bihar government. Rs 4 crore will be given from the account of the party and Rs 1 crore will be given from my personal bank account," Sahani said.