India Budget: Nirmala Sitharaman's policies to lure Delhi, Bihar voters?

Budget is not only an economic exercise but also a political one, and this budget is the evidence for it.

Delhi will vote on Wednesday and Bihar later this year. The Budget has a special focus on the two states. For Delhi, India's richest city by per capita income and with a large middle class government employees, private sector and business , the big tax giveaway was a massive message.



Given that AAP's core voter base is thought to be low-income earners, and amid reports that the capital's middle class is wavering, the Modi govt appears to be hoping to tip them over to the side of saffron.

As far as Bihar is concerned, a critical state for BJP and ally Nitish Kumar's JDU, the number of times the state was mentioned by Nirmala Sitharaman in her speech could have left no one in any doubt as to the NDA government's intent to retain the state.


She announced the setting up of a Makhana Board and a National Institute of Food Technology, expansion of IIT-Patna, promotion of tourism around key Buddhist centres, and support for the Western Kosi canal. She even draped herself in a sari with a Madhubani motif, a traditional folk art from Bihar.

This has been added on top of schemes for Bihar in last year's Budget. The political message couldn't have been more unambigous: BJP-JDU will take the fight to RJD-Cong.