Not ‘special status’, but the Union Budget of Nirmala Sitharaman has provided ‘special help’ to Bihar and Andhra Pradesh that the key NDA allies — TDP and JDU — had wished for.
Ringing in the true era of ‘coalition politics’, the first budget of Narendra Modi 3.0 government went the extra mile for Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, with Sitharaman listing out a flurry of monetary help and projects for both states. With 16 and 12 MPs respectively, the TDP and JDU are key to the stability of the NDA government at the Centre.
The finance minister announced that Rs 15,000 crore will be arranged in the current financial year for development of Andhra Pradesh, with additional amounts promised for future years. The finance minister said concerted efforts will be made to fulfill commitments made under the AP Reorganisation Act. Grants for backward regions of Andhra Pradesh have also been promised, along with a special mention of the Polavaram Dam project.
Sitharaman announced setting up new airports, medical colleges and sports infrastructure in Bihar and specified that requests of the Bihar government from multilateral banks will be expedited. She also said that Rs 26,000 crore will be allocated for highways in Bihar, like Patna-Purnia, Buxar-Bhagalpur and Bodhgaya-Rajgir-Vaishali-Darbhanga Expressway and an additional two-lane bridge over river Ganga in Buxar. A 2,400 MW power plant was also announced for Bihar, while an industrial corridor node has been promised in Gaya.
Bihar is also part of the Purvodaya initiative announced by Modi 3.0 to step up development in the eastern part of the country. “We will formulate Purvodaya for all-round development of Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, and Andhra Pradesh,” the Finance Minister said, saying that this project will focus on human resources development, infrastructure push and generation of economic opportunities in these states. The aim, she said, was to make this region an engine for attaining the goal of Viksit Bharat.
Nitish Kumar and Chandrababu Naidu had strongly pressed for ‘special help’ for their states while meeting Union ministers before the budget. Cabinet Minister and TDP leader Ram Mohan Naidu was seen cheering and showing a thumbs-up as announcements for Andhra Pradesh were made by the finance minister.
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