Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced to formulate a ‘Purvodaya’ plan, targeted at five states Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. Though contours of the plan are not available yet, it is largely for infrastructure and human resource development.”The states in the eastern part of the country are rich in endowments and have strong cultural traditions. We will formulate a plan Purvodaya for the Allround development of the eastern region covering Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. This will cover human resource development, infrastructure, and generation of economic opportunities to make the region an engine to attain Viksit Bharat,” Sitharaman said. The focus on five states highlights the electoral importance of these states for BJP.