Six-lane bridge to trains: PM Modi set to dole out another ‘sop opera’ for poll-bound Bihar on August 22

Patna: It’s raining sops this Monsoon in Bihar.

After doling out one sop after another in recent times, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will dish out yet another largesse for the poll-bound Bihar on Friday. This time he will launch projects worth Rs 13,000 crore in the field of health, power sector, urban development, infrastructure and road construction.

This includes a six-lane bridge on Ganga connecting Patna with Begusarai. Constructed at a whopping cost of Rs 1871 crore, this is the widest bridge in Asia with a width of 34 metres.

Aware of the fact that the NDA has been weak in Magadh region (central Bihar), where the JD (U) could not win even one of the 26 seats spread over five districts in Magadh division during the 2020 Assembly polls, the Prime Minister is scheduled to address a public rally on the campus of Magadh University in Gaya.

He will also flag off Amrit Bharat Express connecting Gaya with New Delhi and a Buddhist circuit train between Vaishali and Koderma. This will be besides the special passenger trains the Railways has decided to run for Bihar during Diwali and Chhath.

Sole crowd-puller

This is PM Modi’s fourth visit to Bihar in the last four months after his rally at Madhubani, Siwan and Rohtas. The chief crowd-puller of his party, the BJP has been planning PM’s visit every month to boost the morale of the saffron leaders and shore up BJP numbers during the ensuing Assembly polls, slated for October and November this year.

During the PM's rally in Gaya, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, besides Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi and Chirag Paswan, Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary and other senior leaders will be present on the occasion.

“Adequate arrangements have been made for the PM programme. We expect around 2 lakh people to attend the PM’s rally in Gaya,” said Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary, after taking stock of the rally venue.

Meanwhile, tight security arrangements have been made in and around Gaya with the Gaya airport being declared a no-flying zone during the PM’s visit.