PATNA, July 16 -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to give Bihar projects worth over Rs.7,000-crore and schemes, including those related to railway and roads during his fifth visit to the poll-bound state this year on July 18. He is scheduled to address a rally at Gandhi Maidan in Motihari. Union minister of state for home Nityanand Raj said that Bihar was the focus area for the PM and that was reflected through his actions both in terms of policies and budget as well as programmes and projects over the last few years. "Whenever he comes to Bihar, there is understandably huge expectation of the people and he does not let them down. During his all previous visits to the state, Bihar got benefited in more ways than one. He had laid the foundation stone and inaugurated multiple development projects worth Rs.11,000 crore at Siwan also last month. Thousands of crores have been given to Bihar for development work," he added. Bihar BJP president Dilip Jaiswal said that every visit of the PM had proved beneficial for Bihar. "Before Narendra Modi, which PM even visited Bihar and how many times, forget about focussing on its development. It is a welcome thing that a PM is so concerned about Bihar's development with or without election. He has visited Bihar 53 times in the last 11 years and Motihari six times. For earlier PMs, Bihar was never a priority," he added. PM Modi had earlier laid the foundation stone and dedicated development projects worth over Rs.48,520 crore in Rohtas district, a part of Shahabad region where NDA performed poorly both in the 2024 Lok Sabha and 2020 assembly elections, while the Opposition did well. The Grand Alliance had won 15 of the 22 Assembly seats in Shahabad region in 2020. In the neighbouring Magadh region, which comprises Gaya Ji, Aurangabad, Nawada and Jehanabad, the opposition bloc had a good show, winning 16 of the 25 seats. His first visit this year was to Bhagalpur and the second to Madhubani, just two days after the Pahalgam terror attack where he promised "beyond imagination response to terror backers". At Madhubani also, he had laid the foundation stone and dedicated to the nation multiple development projects worth over Rs.13,480 crore, while at Bhagalpur in February he had released Rs.22,000 crore to 9.8 crore farmers across the country under PM-KISAN scheme. However, the opposition does not find anything unusual in PM's visit. "He will keep coming as election is round he corner, but will not talk of basic issues confronting Bihar people. Bihar presents a grim pattern reflecting the growing failure of the administration to ensure basic public safety. Tejashwi Yadav has been repeatedly raising public issues, but the government is in a comatose state. Bihar has slipped into utter lawlessness, but he will keep talking about jungle Raj to mislead the people," said RJD Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha. Besides, the Opposition is also highlighting the 'flaws' in the voter roll exercise underway in the state. Tejashwi had accused the Election Commission of doing it on behalf of the BJP....