Biharnomics | It's raining sops in Nitish-land ahead of crucial election

Bihar Assembly elections are round the corner, and the Narendra Modi government has unabashedly gone all out to please the electorate there.

Among Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's Budget announcements is a slew of new projects and schemes for Bihar — a new Makhana Board, a National Institute of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship and Management, a greenfield airport, expansion of Patna airport and the West Kosi canal project in Mithilanchal, to name just a few.

In the July 2024 Budget, presented just after Modi came to power for the third time, but in a coalition with the JD(U) and TDP, both Bihar and Andhra Pradesh got a good share of schemes and sops. This time round, Andhra Pradesh has taken a quiet backseat while Bihar — election-bound and ruled by a more vociferous JD(U) — has walked away with a giant share of announcements.

Also read: Union Budget: FM showers election-bound Bihar with sops, projects

How Nitish scored over Naidu

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has clearly scored over his Andhra counterpart N Chandrababu Naidu. Electoral compulsions in the eastern state have visibly weighed heavily on the Finance Minister’s mind.

Bihar will elect a new Assembly in October or November this year.

The advent of election season has already sparked speculation in Bihar about the fate of the state’s JD(U)-BJP alliance amidst rumours about Nitish Kumar, who has a reputation of switching sides, playing hardball to the BJP.

Nitish recently gave a miss to a meeting called by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and also avoided meeting any BJP leader when he visited New Delhi last month to call on the bereaved family of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Also read: Budget: What's the story behind Sitharaman's Madhubani art saree?

The JD(U) also reportedly conveyed its displeasure to the BJP central leadership for not allocating enough seats to it for the Delhi Assembly elections.

Sops to please alliance partner

To add to the BJP’s tension, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) is constantly sending feelers to JD(U) for its return to Mahagathbandhan, the Grand Alliance the Kumar ditched in January last year.

Sitharaman seems to have loosened her purse strings to keep Kumar’s JD(U) in good humour.

The Makhana Board to be established in the state would be a special opportunity for the people of Bihar, she said in her budget speech.

“The board will provide handholding and training support to makhana farmers and will also work to ensure they receive the benefits of all relevant government schemes,” Sitharaman said.

Also read: Three major demands of farmers remain unresolved in Budget 2025-26

For the benefit of Bihar’s farmers, she announced budgetary support for the Western Koshi Canal Project.

The state will also get a National Institute of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship and Management. The institute will help enhance the income for the farmers through value addition to their produce and will provide skilling, entrepreneurship and employment opportunities for the youth, according to the finance minister.

Civil aviation sector

Construction of a new greenfield airport and capacity enhancement of the Patna airport have also been announced as part of the civil aviation expansion plan for Bihar.

As per the plan, the Centre has already approved two new civil enclaves – one at the Bihta air force station costing Rs 1,413 crore and another at Darbhanga at Rs 912 crore – apart from developing a new terminal building at Patna Airport at Rs 1,216 crore.

Also read: Budget: Visa fee waivers, focus on Buddhist sites among tourism boosters

To further boost the state’s infrastructure, the Centre is funding several road connectivity projects worth Rs 26,000 crore. This includes the Patna-Purnea Expressway (Rs 20,000 crore).

Education, infrastructure

Sitharaman gave further fillip to this infrastructure push in her budget.

Education is another area where Bihar got a special mention in the budget speech. The finance minister announced enhancement of capacity of the Indian Institute of Technology in Patna.

Ahead of the budget, the Bihar government had conveyed its expectation of an increased budgetary support from the Centre.

Also read: Education Budget 2025: Artificial Intelligence, IITs and medical colleges get major boost

The state’s deputy chief minister, Samrat Choudhary, during the pre-budget consultation with the finance minister, demanded among others Rs 25,000 crore interest-free loan for infrastructure development and allocation of Rs 48,000 crore for Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana to upgrade and widen rural roads.

JD(U) leader Vijay Kumar Choudhary had stated that the allocation for the state in this year’s budget should be “even better” than the last year’s.

All for ballot box

"The Union government under the leadership of PM (Narendra) Modi has been generous in providing assistance to Bihar since the government formation last year... This time we need even better treatment than last year's budget. Being the water resources minister, I expect more funds for flood irrigation and development of infrastructure around that," JDU leader Vijay Kumar Choudhary was quoted as saying by the media.

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Expectedly, JD (U) leader Sanjay Kumar Jha hailed the announcements made for Bihar in the budget as a very “positive” development.

Apart from keeping the JD (U) appeased, the budgetary announcements are expected to boost the NDA’s electoral prospects in Bihar.