diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index cd549e45b993..d497643fc267 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -3578,6 +3578,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "jemallocator",
  "libc",
  "mimalloc",
+ "polars",
  "polars-python",
  "pyo3",
 ]
diff --git a/py-polars/Cargo.toml b/py-polars/Cargo.toml
index a42c643516ea..c998b6541dd1 100644
--- a/py-polars/Cargo.toml
+++ b/py-polars/Cargo.toml
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ crate-type = ["cdylib"]
 
 [dependencies]
 libc = { workspace = true }
+# Explicit dependency is needed to add bigidx in CI during release
+polars = { workspace = true }
 polars-python = { workspace = true, features = ["pymethods"] }
 pyo3 = { workspace = true, features = ["abi3-py38", "chrono", "extension-module", "multiple-pymethods"] }