Bhopal, Feb 18 – The opposition Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Wednesday criticized the Madhya Pradesh government over the state's budget for 2026-27, arguing that the state's economy was in a dire situation and heavily reliant on borrowing.
The Congress described the budget as filled with "false figures" and "empty promises," and questioned how the schemes announced in the budget would be funded, given the fiscal deficit of Rs 74,000 crore. The CPI (M) stated that the state's economy was in a state of debt, noting that the state borrowed 17 times in the last 321 days ending February 15.
Madhya Pradesh Finance Minister Jagdish Devda unveiled the state's budget for the 2026-27 financial year, which is likely the first rolling budget in the country, with an outlay of Rs 4.38 lakh crore and a development framework focused on women, the poor, and farmers.
Devda presented the budget amidst interruptions and slogans from the opposition. Congress members expressed concerns about the increasing debt burden on the state's citizens.
Reacting to the budget, Leader of the Opposition Umang Singhar said it was based on false figures and empty promises.
"This budget is a deception against the people of the state and is completely disconnected from reality," he added.
The LoP stated that the finance minister himself had admitted that the fiscal deficit would exceed Rs 74,000 crore.
"When the government has no resources, where will the money come from to implement the announced schemes? This budget is merely a collection of announcements," he said.
Singhar said the government had promised to double farmers' income, but the budget lacked clear policies, schemes, or timelines in this regard.
He said that many unemployed youth in the state expected concrete provisions on recruitment, new jobs, and employment generation, but the budget made no firm announcements on these issues.
"State resources are being handed over to private entities, and industrialists like Adani are being given crores of rupees, while ordinary people are not receiving relief in electricity bills," he said.
According to him, legislators had sought an increase of Rs 2 crore in the MLA local area development fund to enable them to carry out development work in their constituencies, but the demand was ignored.
"This is not a document of development, but of deception. By presenting false figures, an attempt has been made to mislead the public. The people of the state have understood this deception and will respond at the appropriate time," he said.
State Congress president Jitu Patwari described the budget as an "open betrayal" of the people, and called it a "fraud".
Talking to reporters, he said that a fiscal deficit of Rs 78,000 crore was hidden behind the massive budget of Rs 4.38 lakh crore, and the government had so far failed to clearly explain how this amount would be arranged in the future.
Patwari said that a budget of Rs 4.21 lakh crore had been presented last year, but nearly 50 per cent of the allocated amount could not be utilized.
"Despite this, the government continued to borrow an average of Rs 213 crore daily. This is evidence of financial mismanagement, misleading the public, and pushing the state into a debt trap," he said.
Patwari said that the budget mentioned a dearness allowance for employees, but farmers and the poor were openly deceived.
He said that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's guarantee, promises had been made to procure soybean at Rs 6,000, paddy at Rs 3,100, and wheat at Rs 2,700 per quintal, but the budget did not have any concrete provision for these.
He alleged that the size of the budget had been deliberately inflated to increase the scope for borrowing, enabling the government to take on more debt, and described it as a well-planned attempt to mislead the public.
"The economic condition of Madhya Pradesh has completely collapsed and Chief Minister Mohan Yadav has proven to be a complete failure in improving the state's economy. The Congress party opposes this anti-people and deceptive budget," he said.
The CPI (M) said that a government which had presented a third supplementary budget of Rs 19,287 crore just a day before presenting the annual budget and had to borrow Rs 5,700 crore could not attach much significance to its annual budget.
CPI (M) state secretary Jaswinder Singh said in a statement that the deteriorating economic condition of the state could be gauged from the fact that till February 15 - in 321 days of the financial year - the Mohan Yadav government borrowed 17 times.
"A government that is forced to borrow on average every 19 days, should issue a white paper instead of a budget and place the real situation of the state before the public and the Assembly," he said.
Singh termed the budget anti-farmer, anti-worker, anti-village, anti-poor, anti-woman, anti-student, and anti-youth.
