PM in Bihar today, his first public appearance after Pahalgam attack

In his first public appearance after the Kashmir terror attack that killed 26 tourists on April 22, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Bihar's Madhubani on Thursday.

The PM is expected to make a major statement as he addresses people after the dastardly attack in south Kashmir's Baisaran by Pakistan-trained terrorists.

Though PM's Thursday event at Kanpur was cancelled as a mark of respect for local boy Shubham, killed in cold blood in south Kashmir yesterday, his Bihar engagements are on, PMO sources said. The PM has yesterday curtailed his Saudi Arabia visit to return home.

The Tribune has learnt that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has also cut short her April 20 to 30 visit to the US and Peru and is headed back home. She will arrive in Delhi late on Wednesday.

The PM's schedule for Thursday shows he will participate in a programme marking the National Panchayati Raj Day in Madhubani.

This after the PMO informed that Modi had, following the terror attack that claimed a number of lives including that of Shubham, a courageous young son of Kanpur, and in deference to the national sentiment, cancelled the Kanpur event.

"As a mark of respect, it was considered appropriate to defer any celebratory or formal public engagement in Kanpur during this period of grief there," the PMO sources said.

In poll-bound Bihar's Madhubani, the PM will inaugurate, lay the foundation stone and dedicate to the nation multiple development projects worth over Rs 13,480 crore in Bihar which goes to the polls later this year.

He will also present National Panchayat Awards besides laying the foundation stone of an LPG bottling plant with rail unloading facility at Hathua in Gopalganj district of Bihar worth around Rs 340 crore.

"This will help in streamlining the supply chain and improving efficiency of bulk LPG transportation. Boosting power infrastructure in the region, the Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone for projects worth over Rs 1,170 crore and also inaugurate multiple projects worth over Rs 5,030 crore in the power sector in Bihar under the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme," a statement from the PMO said.

An Amrit Bharat express train between Saharsa and Mumbai, Namo Bharat Rapid rail between Jaynagar and Patna and trains between Pipra and Saharsa and Saharsa and Samastipur will also be flagged off.

The occasion will further witness the Prime Minister hand over sanction letters to 15 lakh new beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojna Gramin (Rural) and release instalments to 10 lakh PMAY-G beneficiaries from across the country.

He will hand over keys to some beneficiaries marking the ‘grih pravesh’ of 1 lakh PMAY-G and 54,000 PMAY-U houses in Bihar.

All eyes will be on the PM's remarks in Bihar tomorrow, with India calibrating its response to the terror attack.

As for FM Sitharaman, from April 22 to 25, she was to take part in the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, the second G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governor (FMCBG) Meetings, Development Committee Plenary, IMFC Plenary and Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable (GSDR) meeting.

She will be returning home, truncating her visit in solidarity with the families of those deceased in the Kashmir attack.