Poll-hit Mahayuti govt budgets for Assembly elections in its sop rollout

With the year-end state Assembly elections and the losses in the recent Lok Sabha polls weighing on its mind, the Mahayuti government led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde Friday presented a Budget where politics dominated over economics.

The first Budget in any state after the Lok Sabha elections, where the Narendra Modi government returned to power but with the help of numbers from allies, its announcements had something for everyone – farmers, women, students, and youths. It’s another matter that Maharashtra will struggle to meet these promises given its fiscal situation, with its debt standing at Rs 7.89 lakh crore.

The Budget provisions had a slew of sops involving expenditure of over Rs 1 lakh crore, including Rs 46,000 crore for the Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Scheme, Rs 10,000 crore for the CM Yuva Karya Prashikshan Scheme, Rs 14,761 crore for the electricity bill waiver scheme for farmers using agriculture pumps up to a certain horsepower, and the Annapurna scheme promising three free cylinders per year to over 52 lakh families across the state.

Presenting his 10th Budget (eight times were in non-BJP governments), Finance Minister Ajit Pawar said: “When we draft the Budget, we also reflect on raising funds to meet the targets.”

The Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Scheme entails transfer of Rs 1,500 into the bank accounts of eligible women between the ages of 21 and 60 every month, beginning July 2024. Women make up 48% of the state’s voters.

The scheme is on the lines of the Madhya Pradesh government’s Laadli Behna initiative. Promises or policies around similar cash transfers to women have paid off for other parties in recent elections.

In the case of farmers, the Mahayuti government Budget promises region-specific