Lucknow, Feb 11 (IANS) Uttar Pradesh’s Opposition parties, including the Congress and the Samajwadi Party, on Wednesday criticised the state Budget 2026, alleging that it was aimed at “misleading and deceiving the public”.
Opposition leaders said the budget lacked vision, failed to address unemployment, and did not provide any concrete roadmap for farmers, workers, women, and youth. They also claimed that the government’s previous promises remained unfulfilled.
Speaking to reporters, the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, Mata Prasad Pandey, said: “Our response is that this is a deficit budget, and a deficit budget is not considered good. A good budget shows higher capital expenditure. Here, revenue expenditure is higher, and capital expenditure is low. Capital expenditure leads to asset creation and generates income. When revenue expenditure is very high, and capital expenditure is low, the budget is not considered good.’
Congress state President Ajay Rai also attacked the state government and said the budget was designed to mislead the public.
“This is a budget meant to mislead the public. The budget presented earlier by (Chief Minister) Yogi ji (Adityanath) — for nine to nine months — no money has reached any department,” he said.
Congress MLA Aradhna Mishra Mona described the budget as “hollow and directionless” and alleged that it did not bring anything new. “This budget is completely hollow and directionless. It introduces nothing new — neither for workers nor for farmers. Previous promises have not been fulfilled. There is nothing for women, no roadmap to tackle youth unemployment, and no new initiatives for industrialisation,” she said.
Samajwadi Party MLA Shivpal Singh Yadav said the budget had ignored key regions of the state.
“There is nothing in this budget. And one more thing — you must have seen that Purvanchal has been neglected. Nothing has been given to Purvanchal, nothing to Bundelkhand either. So this budget is just for show. It is meant to deceive the public. The people will get nothing but betrayal from it,” he said.
Samajwadi Party Deputy Chief Whip R.K. Verma raised concerns over unemployment and lack of industrial growth.
“The people of Uttar Pradesh are burdened by this heavy budget. Unemployment is rising, forcing many to migrate to states like Gujarat, Mumbai, and Delhi in search of livelihood, with some even driving taxis to survive. The youth are demanding jobs. You signed MoUs worth lakhs of crores, but where are the factories? No industries were set up, and no employment was generated,” he said.
He also questioned the government over allocations for job creation and competitive exam aspirants.
Samajwadi Party MLA Naseem Solanki said the Opposition was not satisfied with the budget. “We are not happy, but we will see how they implement it on the ground,” he said.
–IANS
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