NEW DELHI: As Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Assam gear up for fiercely contested Assembly elections in the coming months, the Union Budget 2026–27 has drawn criticism from Opposition-ruled states.
While the poll bound states received allocations from rare earth corridor to high-speed rail corridor, turtle trails, and coconut promotion scheme, Opposition leaders argued that the proposals lacked allocations or new schemes that could provide immediate relief or long-term support to states facing fiscal stress.
While the BJP is eyeing a major breakthrough in Tamil Nadu in this election, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced sops including high speed rail links for Chennai, ecologically sustainable mountain trail in Podhigai Malai in the Western Ghats and a rare earth corridor for the state.
“We now propose to support the mineral-rich states of Odisha, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu to establish dedicated Rare Earth Corridors to promote mining, processing, research and manufacturing.” For Kerala, the Budget has proposed a Coconut Promotion Scheme to enhance productivity by replacing non-productive trees with new varieties.
While West Bengal received a new dedicated freight corridor linking Dankuni in West Bengal to Surat in Gujarat, an integrated East Coast Industrial Corridor with a major node at Durgapur to support industrial growth. Another state Assam received an infrastructure boost on Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, as well as the announcement of Buddhist Circuits.