New Delhi/IBNS: Triggering speculations, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday skipped the NITI Aayog meeting, which is chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Nitish, a key ally of the Modi government, sent his two deputies, Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha.

This comes days after Bihar secured a huge sum of money from the central government in the Union Budget 2024.

For Bihar, Union Finance Minister Sitharaman announced support for the development of an industrial node in Bihar's Gaya on the Amritsar-Kolkata industrial corridor. 

The government will, as the Finance Minister said, support the several road connectivity projects, Patna Purnea Expressway; Buxar Bhagalpur Expressway; Bodh Gaya, Rajgir, Vaishali and Darbhanga spars.

An additional tooling bridge over River Ganga at Buxar at a total cost of 26,000 crore was announced.

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP failed to secure a simple majority in the April-June Lok Sabha polls, the saffron camp needed the mandatory support of its allies to form the government for the third consecutive term.