Eye on Bihar polls, Nitish attempts to boost ties with BJP | India News

PATNA: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar used his party’s state executive committee meeting Saturday to further consolidate his ties with ally BJP.
Addressing the meeting, Nitish, who is JDU national president, not only praised PM Narendra Modi, Union minister Amit Shah and BJP president JP Nadda for financial assistance Bihar got in Union Budget, but also said Centre should continue to provide more financial assistance to the state if it (Centre) has any problem granting special category status to Bihar.
Around 500 senior functionaries, including all JDU ministers in Bihar, party MPs and legislators, ex-ministers and former legislators, attended the meeting called to rejuvenate the state- and district-level leadership for the next Bihar assembly polls, due in 2025.
“I know you people were very happy when we again became a part of the National Democratic Alliance,” Nitish said, turning towards the state executive members.
Referring to development works executed during his long tenure as CM, Nitish also said that when he first came into office, in Nov 2005, the Bihar govt’s annual budget was only Rs 24,000 crore. “Today, the state govt’s annual budget is close to Rs 3 lakh crore. This indicates how we work hard to strengthen Bihar’s finance and economy,” the CM said.