Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray has said, “No promises made by the government in the manifesto have been fulfilled in the budget. This is a bogus budget. Such a bogus budget has not been presented by any government in the past many years,” adding "This budget is full of empty promises, just like the government itself. The promise of Rs 2,100 under the Ladli Bahina scheme remains unfulfilled. It is clear that all their promises were merely ‘chunavi jumla’. Now that the elections are over, this government has distanced itself from the welfare of farmers, youth, and women."

The Maharashtra budget has not provided funds for even the Mahayuti’s flagship welfares schemes, which included raising monthly financial aid under Ladli Bahina from Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,100 and farm loan waivers.

The government had promised to spend Rs 46,000 crore on the scheme for needy and poor women. Over two crore women were eligible for this scheme, but gradually, their numbers are being slashed down, citing various criteria. The Budget 2025-26 has finally earmarked only Rs 36,000 crore, which was Rs10,000 crore less than the promised. The scheme, which provides financial assistance to approximately 2.53 crore women, has seen an expenditure of Rs 33,232 crore since its launch in July 2024.

The Ladli Bahina scheme currently provides Rs 1,500 per month to eligible women in Maharashtra. Ahead of the state Assembly elections in November 2024, the Mahayuti alliance of the BJP, Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) and NCP (Ajit Pawar) had pledged in its manifesto to raise the amount to Rs 2,100. The budget shows Mahayuti backtracked on its promise.

Ajit Pawar has said that they had made promises to increase financial assistance and it would be done when they would get the money.

It is worth recalling that only months before the Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha election, Mahayuti government had launched a series of pre-poll sops in July 2024, and had made several new promises for financial assistance to the women and needy poor people and other various sections of the society. At that time Shiv Sena (Shinde) was leading the government under CM Eknath Shinde. The pre-poll sops and promises helped Mahayuti to return to power, though Eknath Shinde was replaced by BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis as Chief Minister.

Nevertheless, the Maharashtra Budget 2025-26 has revealed that the pre-poll sops already implemented have led to Rs 9.3 lakh crore of debt, which is the highest ever for the state. Moreover, the estimated revenue deficit for the year 2025-26 has been put at Rs 45,891, which is the steepest in the economic history of Maharashtra.

In such a situation, Mahayuti government led by BJP has no option left, but to pause on their poll promises, though it focused on keeping existing schemes going. Mahayuti government went back on their poll promises made during the Maharashtra Election in November, 2024.

Mahayuti government has wound up Shiv Bhojan Scheme for the poor which was launched by the former MVA government. Rs14 crore were being spent on the scheme. Each thali was priced initially at Rs5, but later it was hiked to Rs10. It should also be recalled that during COVID-19 crisis, MVA government was giving it free.

However, Maharashtra budget has made several provisions as merely goodwill gesture towards social justice, such as in the case of scheduled caste component in the annual plan which has been raised by 42 per cent, and tribal component by 40 per cent.

Mahayuti government had no elbow room for its big-ticket poll promises due to financial crunch, in which it has landed itself in the past 3 years of rule. The Budget 2025-26 has projected a debt of Rs 2 lakh crore higher than it was in 2024-25. Revenue deficit has also doubled in one year. Nevertheless, Ajit Pawar has claimed that the debt and fiscal deficits are under manageable limit. The state’s fiscal deficit is estimated at 2.76% of its GSDP. As for state’s debt it is 18.7% of GSDP while the prescribed limit is 25%.

Ajit Pawar has presented a Rs7 lakh crore Maharashtra Budget for 2025-26, but it has not any significant new schemes. Moreover, a number of poll promises did not find any place in the budget.

Nevertheless, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has counted social welfare as one of the foundations of the five-point agenda budget – the other four are agriculture, industry, infrastructure, and employment.

The pre-poll sops implemented by the Mahayuti government have resulted into an increase of revenue expenditure of the state by about Rs87,341 crore over and above the allocation for 2024-25.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has responded to criticism by the opposition, “We are committed to gradually increasing the amount as promised, but financial prudence is necessary.” Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has said on promised Rs 2100 per month to women, “We will fulfil our promise, but we need time to implement it.” (IPA Service)