‘Budget sans sops for poll-bound states’, Opposition parties cry foul

The Union Budget 2026-27 has not made any big-ticket announcements for the states going to polls this year -- Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry -- with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman making it clear that enough has been done to cover the poll-bound states as well as all other states.

The Union Budget 2026-27 has not made any big-ticket announcements for the states going to polls this year -- Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry -- with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman making it clear that ''enough'' has been done to cover the poll-bound states as well as all other states. However, the opposition parties, particularly the ruling outfits in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Kerala, have slammed the Budget, claiming that it had nothing for their respective state as the finance minister stuck to fiscal discipline, shunning populist measures despite four states and one Union territory heading to polls in the next few months. Asked on the budget allocations for the poll-bound states at a post-Budget conference, Sitharaman said ''enough was done to cover all these election states''. ''I think there is enough to cover all these election states. Had I done so (allocations for poll-bound states), you would have asked why I made allotments only for the election states. Now, I have done it for both election and non-election states. If you want me to spell out what is being done only for the election states, I am quite happy to do it,'' Sitharaman said. According to the Budget documents, the schemes for Tamil Nadu include high-speed rail links for Chennai, an ecologically sustainable mountain trail in Podhigai Malai in the Western Ghats, and a rare earth corridor. Bird watching trails along the Pulikat lake and the development of the archaeological site of Adichanallur into a vibrant, experiential cultural destination were among the other announcements made for the southern state. To promote environmentally sustainable passenger systems, the government will develop seven high-speed rail corridors between cities as growth connectors, and Hyderabad-Chennai and Chennai-Bengaluru would be among them. The Budget also proposed to support the mineral-rich states of Odisha, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu to establish dedicated rare earth corridors to promote mining, processing, research and manufacturing. According to the Budget, the government will focus on Tier II and Tier III cities, and even temple towns, which need modern infrastructure and basic amenities. Tamil Nadu, home to thousands of temples and pilgrimage centres, has several temple towns, including Madurai, Kancheepuram and Kumbakonam, among others. Hitting out at the Centre for ''ignoring'' Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister M K Stalin called the Budget announcements a ''huge disappointment'' for the state. ''As Tamil Nadu gears up for the Assembly elections, we had expected the state to be visible to the eyes of the Union government, and that our voices would be heard. However, this year too, the BJP government has delivered only disappointment,'' Stalin said in a statement. For West Bengal, the Budget proposed a new, dedicated freight corridor linking Dankuni to Surat in Gujarat, an integrated East Coast industrial corridor with a major node at Durgapur, and tourism-focused interventions under the Centre's Purvodaya vision. The Budget also proposed the creation of tourism destinations across five Purvodaya states and provisions for 4,000 e-buses. However, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee described the Budget as a ''directionless and visionless Humpty Dumpty'', claiming that it had nothing to offer to the common man and her state. ''This Budget is directionless, visionless, actionless and anti-people. It is also anti-woman, anti-farmer, anti-education and against the SC, ST and OBC communities... There is nothing on offer for Bengal in the Humpty Dumpty Budget,'' she said. Assam is expected to benefit from the Budget's thrust on infrastructure development of Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, as well as the announcement of Buddhist circuits, officials said. The focus on MSMEs will also be advantageous for the poll-bound state, which has a large number of small and medium enterprises, they said. The proposal for setting up a Buddhist circuit in the region, including Assam, also featured in the Budget announcements. ''The northeastern region is a civilisational confluence of Theravada and Mahayana/Vajrayana traditions. I propose to launch a scheme for the development of Buddhist circuits in Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Assam, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura,'' Sitharaman said in her Budget speech. It has also been proposed to upgrade the national mental health institutes in Assam's Tezpur as a regional apex institution. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma hailed the Budget as ''reform-oriented'', from which the entire eastern region, including Assam, will ''benefit meaningfully''. The Budget included Kerala in a broader industrial initiative. The scheme for rare earth permanent magnets, launched in November 2025, proposes to support the mineral-rich states, including Odisha, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The plan envisions dedicated rare earth corridors to boost mining, processing, research and manufacturing in the sector. For the environmental sector, the Centre announced the establishment of 'turtle trails' along key nesting sites in the coastal regions of Odisha, Karnataka and Kerala, aimed at conservation and eco-tourism. The expectations had been running high across Kerala's political spectrum, from the ruling LDF to the opposition Congress-led UDF and even leaders within the state BJP, expecting at least two major Budget announcements – a high-speed rail corridor and the sanctioning of an AIIMS, sources said. However, neither materialised. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan strongly criticised the Budget, claiming it exposed the Centre's continued discrimination and neglect towards the state. Vijayan also accused Sitharaman of ''deliberately overlooking'' the fact that Kerala is also part of India's map. Puducherry has been allocated Rs 3,517.88 crore as part of the annual Budget allocation under the broader Ministry of Home Affairs' budget. Puducherry Chief Minister N Rangasamy hailed the Budget as ''most progressive and development- oriented''. Rangasamy, who heads the AINRC-BJP coalition government in the Union territory, said the Budget ''is most progressive and focuses on every sector of development''. In recent years, Union Budgets preceding Assembly elections often carried pronounced regional emphasis. Bihar, which went to polls in 2025, saw a succession of big-ticket announcements in the preceding budgets, from airport expansion to irrigation and industrial projects, a pattern that critics said reflected political timing as much as developmental need. That precedent had shaped expectations in the poll-bound states this year too.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)