PM on two-day visit to Bihar from Thursday; roadshow, rally on cards

Patna: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will blaze through Bihar during a two-day tour during which he is scheduled to launch several projects, hold a captivating roadshow and address a mammoth rally.

The visit, which comes just a few months ahead of the state assembly polls, has charged up BJP cadres who will be having the popular leader among themselves on Thursday.

"Shortly after arriving in the state capital, the PM will visit the party office. This will be his second visit to the premises in about a year. He last came here during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. We are grateful to Modi, who is a world leader, for the attention we have been receiving from him," said Dilip Jaiswal, president of the BJP's Bihar unit.

According to an official communication, the PM's aircraft will land in the evening at the Patna airport where around 5.45 pm, he will "inaugurate the newly constructed passenger terminal which has been built at a cost of around Rs 1,200 crore, and can handle one crore passengers per year".

"He will also lay the foundation stone of the new civil enclave of Bihta airport which will be built at a cost of Rs 1,410 crore. The Bihta airport will serve the eponymous town which is rapidly emerging as an educational hub as it is home to IIT Patna and the proposed NIT Patna campus," the communication added.

From the airport, Modi will head for the BJP office, situated about three kilometres away, with stopovers at several places where the PM will be felicitated by people associated with various social organisations.

"The felicitations will be strictly non-political. This will be the PM's first Bihar visit after Operation Sindoor's success. People of Bihar feel strongly about that military operation since it was on the soil of the state that Modi had vowed to punish the culprits of the Pahalgam attack," Jaiswal said.

Notably, the PM, who was abroad when more than 20 tourists were shot dead by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir, had upon return addressed a rally in Madhubani district and said that the perpetrators "will be chased to the end of the earth".

According to Superintendent of Police (Traffic), Patna, Aparajit Lohan, traffic restrictions will be in place in view of the VVIP movement and vehicles will be allowed through diverted routes.

Officials led by Patna District Magistrate Chandrashekhar Singh are keeping a tab on lighting arrangements on the stretch.

After giving a pep talk to BJP leaders at the party's Birchand Patel Marg office, Modi is likely to retire for the day at the Raj Bhavan and leave for Rohtas district on Friday.

In Rohtas, he will inaugurate, lay the foundation stone and dedicate to the nation multiple development projects worth over Rs 48,520 crore, the communication said.

These projects include the Nabinagar Super Thermal Power Project, Stage-II (3x800 MW) in Aurangabad district worth over Rs 29,930 crore, which will aim at ensuring energy security for Bihar and eastern India. It will boost industrial growth, create job opportunities, and provide affordable electricity in the region, it added.

The PM will also address a rally on the occasion and, according to Jaiswal, the public meeting "is likely to break all records of turnout, with a gigantic canopy, having a capacity of over one lakh chairs, in place".