Expressing disappointment over the rejection of special category status to Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to set up an expert committee to consider the state's long pending demand.

The Centre should set up an expert committee to consider in-depth a memorandum on the special category status to Bihar and various letters written by the state government for a decision on the long pending request, he said in a letter to the prime minister.

"The expert committee should take a fair and rational decision on demand for special category status to Bihar and respond positively to the aspirations of a poor, backward state, which notwithstanding recent process, remains at the bottom of development pyramid both in terms of poverty indicators and various indices of human development," Kumar said.