Not ‘Special’, But Budget Elevates Bihar’s Status: JDU Tells Nitish Critics To Resign; Opposition Not Impressed

It is raining sops for Bihar in the Budget with Rs 26,000 crore sanctioned for infrastructural projects such as highway construction and Rs 11,500 crore for flood mitigation. New airports, medical colleges, sports infrastructure for the state have all been announced in Budget 2024. Special allocations have been made for Nalanda, Rajgir and Gaya, too, making the Trinamool Congress (TMC) comment that this was a “Bihar budget and not a union budget”.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s budget largesse came a day after her deputy Pankaj Chaudhary told the Lok Sabha that granting special status to Bihar was not possible on account of the report of the inter-ministerial group report from 2011. The Lok Sabha answer led Rashtriya Janata Dal’s (RJD) Lalu Yadav to call for resignation of Janata Dal United (JDU) leader Nitish Kumar as the Bihar CM for “misleading Biharis”.

On Tuesday, however, JDU leaders were brimming with joy.

National Spokesperson K C Tyagi told news18 that those who called for Nitish Kumar’s resignation yesterday should now themselves step down from all posts. “This is step one towards Bihar getting a special status. We had demanded new airports, new AIIMS and financial assistance. All of these demands have found mention in the budget,” Tyagi said.

OPPOSITION QUESTIONS BIG-TICKET REFORMS

A 2,400 MW power plant and an industrial corridor was announced by Sitharaman for Gaya. A total of Rs 26,000 crore has been earmarked for highways in Bihar, including the Patna-Purnia, Buxar-Bhagalpur, and Bodhgaya-Rajgir-Vaishali-Darbhanga Expressways. A new two-lane bridge over the Ganga in Buxar gives the ruling dispensation in Bihar a talking point to deflect attention from the collapsing bridges in the state.

The Opposition, however, is not impressed. While Congress called it a “jhunjhuna”, RJD’s Manoj Jha said that the Highway construction allocations are being wrongly projected as big-ticket reforms. “Just taking name of Bihar and Andhra multiple times does not make this budget pro-Bihar. The state needs a special status which is conspicuous in its absence from this budget.”

Sanjay Jha, working president of JDU, however, called this stance of the Opposition detrimental to Bihar. “The RJD and Congress have always worked against Bihar. Even when they were in power. We are satisfied that first step has been taken towards bringing Bihar from the label of Bimaru state to developed state,” Jha said.

He added that financial assistance was a key demand of JDU which has been partly addressed.

Sitharaman has also promised that the Centre was fast tracking Bihar government’s request for a multilateral bank.

The Purvodaya initiative, aimed at boosting development in eastern India, is also bound to aid Bihar’s growth story. “We will formulate Purvodaya for the all-round development of Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, and Andhra Pradesh,” Sitharaman said.

The Finance Minister elaborated that the project would focus on human resources development, infrastructure enhancement, and economic opportunity generation, to make this region a “driving force for achieving a developed India”.

Though the JDU claims this is not an electoral budget, the party could benefit in the upcoming assembly polls if the announced measures bring about some visible change on ground in the months leading up to assembly polls.