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PM Modi likely to announce sops for Bihar today

by IBNS 18 Aug 2015, 08:38 am

Patna, Aug 18 (IBNS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to make a special announcement for Bihar on Tuesday as he will address a public rally in Saharsa ahead of the Assembly elections in the state that his party, BJP, is desperate to win.

This will be Modi's third election rally in Bihar. Before thathe will inaugurate development projects in Arrah.

According to media reports, BJP state leaders have hinted that the Prim e Minister could today announce the more than Rs. 50,000 crore in Central funds that he has promised Bihar.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the BJP's main rival in the Bihar elections, said  he would wait for details before commenting.

"I am waiting to see whether the special package will have new projects or merely a repackaging of the old ones," Kumar said. 

Going by the normal protocol, Nitish Kumar  will receive the PM at the Patna airport, though he will not  not accompany him on his official programme in Ara.

The Chief Minister also said, "First of all, it's a clear-cut violation of cooperative federalism that the state government has been kept in the dark, while BJP leaders are making statements about the PM's special package for the state. But, whatever I have heard so far, there seems nothing new in the proposed special package."

In the Bihar elections, the BJP takes on a coalition of Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (U), Lalu Prasad's Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Congress and other smaller parties.