New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to announce a slew of projects worth several hundred crores of rupees in poll-bound Bihar in five phases starting September 10. The projects will cover agriculture, fisheries and animal husbandry, petroleum and natural gas, housing and urban development, roads, and highways and railways. Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Modi told ET that these announcements by the prime minister are proposed to come in five batches till September 23, and will set the tone for the assembly elections.“The first announcements from the PM will be on September 10 in the form of projects in agriculture, fisheries and the animal husbandry sector. Tentatively, this will be followed by announcements on September 13 for the petroleum sector; on September 15 for housing and Urban Affairs; on September 18 for railway projects including inaugurating the landmark Kosi Bridge in north Bihar; and on September 23 for road and highways projects,” Modi said. “PM, CM Nitish Kumar and I will be present in these launches with union ministers through video conference and nearly all districts will be covered with locals joining in on video link.”Asenior central government official said the theme of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and ‘Atmanirbhar Bihar’ will be central to these announcements. This also implies that the BJP is anticipating the announcement of the model code of conduct by the Election Commission (EC) after September 23 and perhaps a shorter election process in around three phases of polling. In 2015, the EC had announced five-phase polls in Bihar on September 9 and counting was done on November 8.
