Patna, March 3 Bihar Finance Minister Samrat Chaudhary presented the 2025-26 state budget on Monday, with a total outlay of Rs 3.17 lakh crore.
However, Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav strongly criticised the budget, calling it "useless" and not in Bihar's interest."
He alleged that the Nitish Kumar government has no roadmap for the economic growth of the state.
Bihar lags behind in per capita income and farmers' earnings but no concrete steps were proposed to address farmers’ issues, unemployment and poverty, which remain the highest in the country.
“In this budget, there was no mention of job creation and employment generation, paper leaks in exams continue, but no policies were introduced to prevent them and no clear strategy to stop the migration of youth and workers from Bihar,” Yadav said.
He also pointed out that there was no measure discussed in the budget to modernise the police force and improve law enforcement. Law and order concerns were completely ignored in the budget.
When asked about the government's plans to introduce pink buses for women to promote safe public transport, Tejashwi ridiculed the plan, stating that existing Bihar Transport department buses are not running efficiently, so the new scheme is unrealistic.
He vowed to "expose the government" and highlight its failures. He accused the ruling alliance of being unconcerned about Bihar’s progress and focusing only on election gimmicks.
Tejashwi Yadav also launched a scathing attack on the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government, calling the state budget a bundle of lies and accusing the government of failing to address Bihar’s core issues.
"People of Bihar were already disappointed with this government, and now, after this budget, they have completely lost faith in it,” he said.
He accused the government of deception and making false promises. Tejashwi demanded transparency on how much the central government gives to Bihar compared to Gujarat.
He hinted at federal discrimination, suggesting that Bihar is being neglected by the BJP-led central government.
"No work is being done to control inflation and eradicate poverty. The budget does not provide any real relief for common people,” he said.
Tejashwi reiterated that his party had earlier proposed the "Mai Behan Maan Yojana" for women's financial support. "If the government wants to copy our scheme, they are welcome to do it, but at least implement it properly," he said.
He alleged that the NDA does not care about rules and regulations and is running the state with dictatorial arrogance.
With the Bihar Assembly elections approaching, the budget has sparked intense political debates. While the Nitish government projects it as a "historic and development-oriented budget", the opposition sees it as an election stunt with no real impact on Bihar’s pressing issues.
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