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Union Budget: Bonanza for Bihar before Assembly Polls

Union Budget: Bonanza for Bihar before Assembly Polls

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Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Feb 1: Sending a strong message to the people of Bihar, who will vote for the state Assembly elections later this year, that staying with the NDA matters, the union finance minister Nirmala Sitharamn on Saturday made a series of announcements aligned with Bihar’s financial and political interests.

While presenting the budget in Parliament she was not only wearing a Madhubani saree, a traditional folk art form from the Mithila region of Bihar, she also fulfilled almost all the demands of the chief minister Nitish Kumar, a strong ally of the NDA, whose support is vital for the survival of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre.

The budget delivered on key demands long raised by the state, which included the Kosi Canal flood mitigation project for Mithilanchal, a Makhana Board, a greenfield airport in Patna, and the expansion of IIT Patna. All these steps are crucial for the state’s growth and Bihar Chief Minister’s electoral-political arithmetic ahead of the crucial state elections due this year.

For the JD(U), the budget was more than just announcements — it was political validation for Nitish Kumar’s decision to join hands with the BJP and become a major partner of NDA. “The NDA government has lived up to our expectations. All demands were met. It is a landmark day for Bihar,” said Rajeev Ranjan Prasad, senior leader and national spokesperson of JD(U).

“It also reaffirms that our leader Nitish Kumar-ji’s support for the NDA was legitimate and a strategic move in the larger interest of Bihar,” he added.

For the party in power in the state, the announcements made by the NDA government will also give a fillip to Nitish Kumar’s political credibility and help counter the opposition narrative, said a senior JDU Leader.

From Makhana Board to Kosi Canal, IIT expansion to airport modernisation, the Narendra Modi government’s budget spanned both rural and urban Bihar. Budget 2025-26 delivered on long-pending demands, ensuring that the messaging covered all sectors — farmers and the educated young voters, villages and cities, development works and politics.

For rural Bihar, the additional announcements of financial support for the Kosi Canal project, a crucial initiative for Bihar’s Mithilanchal farmers across over 50,000 hectares of agricultural land, have been the most crucial of all, said Ranjan. This will also seal Nitish Kumar’s commitment to boosting irrigation in the region.

To further support to the agri-economy, the government will set up a Makhana Board, an industry-specific initiative to train farmers, that will streamline production and connect them to key government schemes. This will give access to the international market, said another senior leader.

While announcing the setting up of a makhana board in the state, Sitharaman said, “There is a special opportunity for the people of Bihar. A makhana board will be established in the state to improve production, processing, value addition, and marketing of makhana.” People engaged in these activities will be organised into Farmer Producer Organization (FPOs), which will provide handholding and training support to makhana farmers. These FPOs will also work to ensure they receive the benefits of all relevant government schemes, she added.

“Moreover, in line with the “government’s commitment towards ‘Poorvodaya’, we will establish a National Institute of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship and Management in Bihar.” she said. Under the Poorvodaya scheme, the government is formulating an all-round development of the eastern region states covering Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.

At the same time, for urban and educated voters in Bihar, the budget brings expansion of IIT-Patna and airport modernisation, signalling focus on higher education, tech-driven growth, and improved connectivity. With the announcement of a greenfield airport planned for Patna, the state’s capital is now set to emerge as a key transport and economic hub.

With these announcements, the NDA has checked off key demands from Bihar, reinforcing its political and developmental commitment to the state ahead of elections and reassuring Nitish Kumar about their coalition commitment.

The announcements for Bihar, where BJP shares power with its key ally JDU, come against the backdrop of Nitish Kumar’s critical support after BJP fell short of the majority mark in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. JDU, which won 12 seats in the 2024 polls, was one of the kingmakers after BJP sought its backing along with that of N Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP to form the government at the Centre.

During the last budget in July 2024, the Centre announced several big-ticket measures for Bihar, proposing a total outlay of over Rs 60,000 crore for various projects, including funding for three expressways projects, a power plant, heritage corridors, new airports, and sports infrastructure.

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