Lucknow, February 11 Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday termed the Uttar Pradesh budget for 2026-27 as a "farewell budget" of the Yogi Adityanath government, asserting that the ruling BJP will exit office after the 2027 Assembly elections.
Addressing a press conference in Lucknow shortly after the state government presented the budget in the Assembly, Yadav said the BJP was projecting the size of the budget – over Rs 9 lakh crore – as a major achievement.
"The government says its budget has crossed Rs 9 lakh crore and claims it as an achievement. It is generally accepted that every budget is bigger than the previous one. The real question is how much of it is actually spent," he said.
Yadav alleged that on average, the government has failed to utilize even 50 per cent of its allocations.
"If the outlay is so large, why is the government unable to spend it? This shows a failure of governance," he said.
Citing figures for various departments, the former chief minister claimed that only 57 per cent of the allocation was spent on agriculture, 36 per cent on rural development, around 60 per cent on animal husbandry, 58 per cent in health and 53 per cent in women welfare.
"In the most important department – basic education – only 62 per cent of the budget was spent," he alleged.
Yadav said the government's inability to utilize funds in key sectors reflects administrative incompetence.
"When such a large budget is presented but even half of it is not spent, especially in crucial departments, it exposes the government's failure and the incompetence of those running it," he said, calling the budget a 'bidaai budget' (farewell budget) of the Adityanath government.
The budget presented on Wednesday is widely seen as the last full-fledged budget of the Adityanath government before the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.