NDA leaders jumped to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's defence after chief minister Nitish Kumar called the Rs 1.25 lakh crore special package a bid to woo voters by repackaging projects the state was denied.

NDA leaders said the Centre was considering the special package proposal over the past seven-eight months. Union communication and information technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said: "Prime Minister Modi's special package should not be considered an election speech. Modi made the announcement only after the finance department approved the package."

On the charge of repackaging old projects, the NDA leaders said the old projects were those that were "dead" or not started by the earlier UPA government in the past 10 years. Both Ravi Shankar and Union food and consumer protection minister Ram Vilas Paswan called Modi's announcement as a step for economic growth in east India, especially Bihar.

NDA leaders also said none of the projects announced under special package were ongoing projects. Ravi Shankar said: "The package neither included ongoing IT department projects nor the Rs 1200 crore modern electric locomotive plant at Madhepura in Bihar."

Nitish had questioned whether there was budgetary provision for the package and said there was no clarity on when projects would take off. NDA leaders said but for Nitish, Lalu Prasad and Rahul Gandhi, everybody was happy with the package.

At a press meet, Ram Vilas said: "Nitish tried to get a special package from UPA. Even after he went to Sadaquat Ashram to drop former Union finance minister P. Chidambaram, he got just Rs 12,000 crore for which he thanked Chidambaram and Manmohan. In contrast, neither Nitish nor Lalu have welcomed Modi's announcements."