Budget 2024 | Thank you for 28 MPs: Splurge on Bihar, Andhra Pradesh

These announcements, according to Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, came at the expense of other states. He called it a “kursi bachao Budget” which had made “hollow promises” even to BJP allies. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said “half-hearted rewadis (freebies)” had been distributed “to dupe coalition partners so the NDA survives”.

In her speech, acknowledging the “need” for Andhra Pradesh to have a capital, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the Centre will “facilitate special financial support” of Rs 15,000 crore in the current financial year. The amount will be key to developing Amaravati, Naidu’s dream project which was shelved when Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy came to power in 2019.

She also announced two industrial corridors, Visakhapatnam-Chennai and Hyderabad-Bengaluru; a special backward areas fund for Rayalaseema, Prakasam and North Coastal Andhra; and financial help to complete the Polavaram irrigation project.

Ahead of the Budget, Naidu had made three rounds of Delhi to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah as well as Cabinet Ministers including Sitharaman to press for the state’s demands.

The Rs 15,000 crore for Amaravati is a big boost for Naidu, whose TDP is an NDA constituent with 16 Lok Sabha MPs, as well as his cash-starved state. Naidu can finally hope to finish the construction of the capital city he dreamt of building after bifurcation of the state, but had to leave midway after losing to Reddy.

“Today the Centre promised Rs 15,000 crore financial support in the Budget. There is hope that happy days are here again,” Naidu said in the Assembly during a debate on Tuesday.

The JD(U), which has 12 Lok Sabha MPs, too appeared satisfied with the Budget announcements. Speaking to The Indian Express, JD(U) advisor and chief national spokesperson K C Tyagi said, “we are very happy with what Bihar got”.

He said there was no point in reading too much into the Centre not considering special status for the state. “Let the Opposition cry foul. The idea is to ensure development of Bihar. An annual package of Rs 1 lakh crore has made a good start for us,” he said.

The Purvodaya project, which concentrates on development of the country’s eastern region, is expected to help both Bihar and Andhra Pradesh.

Sitharaman also announced that on the Amritsar-Kolkata industrial corridor, there will be an industrial node at Gaya, “which will serve as a good model for developing ancient centres of cultural importance to future centres of modern economy”.

The government will also support road connectivity projects, including Patna-Purnea Expressway, Buxar-Bhagalpur Expressway, Bodhgaya, Rajgir, Vaishali and Darbhanga spurs, and an additional two-lane bridge over Ganga river at Buxar at a cost of Rs 26,000 crore. Power projects, including a new 2,400 megawatt plant at Pirpainti, will be taken up at a cost of Rs 21,400 crore, Sitharaman said, while also announcing “new airports, medical colleges and sports infrastructure in Bihar”.

Rs 11,500 crore has been set aside for an “accelerated irrigation benefit programme for flood prevention and management”.

Sitharaman said that “comprehensive development” of Vishnupad Temple at Gaya and Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya will be supported, modelled on the Kashi Vishwanath Temple Corridor, to transform them into “world class pilgrim and tourist destinations”.

“We had proposed that if special status wasn’t feasible for technical reasons, Bihar should receive special assistance (vishesh madat) from the Centre in another form, which has been announced today,” Nitish said later.