Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday made a slew of announcements for Bihar, including setting up a Makhana Board and financial support for the western Koshi canal project, in the Union budget 2025, triggering strong reactions from opposition parties that claimed that these proposals were made with an eye on the assembly polls.
The assembly elections in Bihar are due later this year.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, whose JD(U) is also a key ally of the ruling BJP, called the Budget "progressive" and "futuristic", while senior RJD leader and former deputy CM Tejashwi claimed that the Centre was indulging in "rhetoric".
Yadav also criticised Kumar for failing to secure benefits like "special category status for Bihar", despite the BJP now depending on the JD(U) to survive in power at the Centre.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh also took a swipe at the Narendra Modi government, saying Bihar appears to have got a bonanza of announcements.
"It is natural since elections are due there later in the year. But why is (has) the other pillar of the NDA, namely Andhra Pradesh, been so cruelly ignored?" Ramesh posted on X in an apparent reference to BJP allies JD(U) from Bihar and TDP from Andhra Pradesh.
Reacting to the opposition parties' attacks, Union minister Chirag Paswan said they should support the bills proposing simultaneous elections to end the debate over Union Budgets allegedly favouring poll-bound states.
"If the opposition has so many objections, it might as well support the concept of simultaneous polls and end the debate once and for all. When the Budget will be presented next time, some poll must be going on," he said.
His Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) is an ally of the BJP.
In her budget speech, the finance minister announced that the Centre will set up a National Institute of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship, and Management (NIFTEM) in Bihar.
The Centre will also facilitate greenfield airports in the state to meet future needs, in addition to the capacity expansions of the Patna airport and the brownfield airport in Bihta, she said.
Sitharaman draped an off-white handloom silk saree with fish-themed embroidery and a golden border -- a tribute to Bihar's Madhubani Art. Dulari Devi, who was awarded Padma Shri in 2021, had gifted her the saree.
The finance minister said the proposed NIFTEM will provide a "strong fillip" to food processing activities in the entire eastern region.
The Makhana board will improve production, processing, value addition, and marketing of foxnuts, she said.
The western Koshi canal project will benefit a "large number of farmers", cultivating over 50,000 hectare of land in the Mithilanchal region of the state, she added.
Kumar, the longest-serving CM of the state, profusely thanked PM Modi and Sitharaman for the Budget.
"The budget is 'pragatisheel' (progressive) and 'bhavishyonmukhi' (futuristic). It will help accelerate the state's growth... I thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman," he said in a statement.
Kumar said the Makhana board would boost the cultivation of foxnuts, for which Bihar was known across the world.
"Greenfield airports would address the state's future needs. These will improve air connectivity in the state which shall now look forward to having a greater number of international flights," he said.
Kumar said the decision to enhance the capacity of IIT-Patna will cause technical education in the state to look up.
Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary, a former state BJP president who holds the Finance portfolio in Kumar's cabinet, said the budget would aid "faster development" of Bihar.
"It's a historic Budget that will greatly benefit Bihar. The NDA government at the Centre under the leadership of PM Modi is concerned about the faster growth of the state," he told reporters.
Hitting out at Kumar, the Leader of the Opposition in the state, Tejashwi Yadav, said, "Just look at TDP supremo Chandra Babu Naidu, who has secured benefits to the tune of Rs 1 lakh crore for Andhra Pradesh. The Budget presented today is silent on any such help for Bihar. We also do not know where the Rs 59,000 crore promised last year has been spent." The CM seems to have already abandoned the demand for special status, on which the finance minister did not speak a word while presenting the Budget, he added.
"There is not even a special economic package for the poor state which is being cheated by the Modi government as all good things are being done for the PM's home state Gujarat," Yadav claimed.
The young leader dismissed the proposals as "jumlebaazi" (rhetoric), asking, "Where is the budgetary allocation?".
"These are all old things with some repackaging. Why is the Centre silent on projects like a new airport at Bihta, on the outskirts of Patna? When we were in power, we had acquired land for the purpose and handed it over to the Airports Authority of India," he said.
State Congress president Akhilesh Prasad Singh, whose party is an RJD ally, claimed the Budget did not address any of the demands raised in a 32-page document submitted to Sitharaman by the state's deputy CM.
"Choudhary had prayed for assistance of Rs 13,000 crore for setting up airports at Bhagalpur, Rajgir and Raxaul, besides the upgradation of the Darbhanga airport. We would like to know, from the BJP and the Centre, which of these points have been addressed in the Budget," said Singh, a Rajya Sabha MP.
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