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The 2026 Union Budget has caused great disappointment among the people of Tamil Nadu with "no clear announcements" for key sectors, the finance minister of the poll-bound state, Thangam Thennarasu,, said on Sunday.
Following the presentation of the Union Budget 2026-27 in Parliament today by Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Thennarasu took to social media to state, "The long-standing and legitimate demands consistently raised by the Tamil people have once again been ignored." "The 2026 Union Budget has caused great disappointment among the people of Tamil Nadu. There were no clear announcements for key sectors such as basic infrastructure development, employment, education, healthcare, and industrial investment that are essential for the state's growth. The long-standing and legitimate demands consistently raised by the Tamil people have once again been ignored," Thennarasu's post read. The state's finance minister said that, despite Tamil Nadu's significant role in India's overall development, it has not received its rightful share. "This budget stands as one that has completely disregarded the expectations of the Tamil people," Thennarasu said. The Union Budget 2026, tabled on Sunday (February 1, 2026), is the ninth consecutive budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Parliament. For the Budget presentation, Sitharaman, who hails from Tamil Nadu, wore a Kattam (striped) Kanjeevaram silk saree from the State, paired with a plain yellow full-sleeve blouse. In her Budget speech, Sitharaman proposed that the Centre would support Tamil Nadu in setting up a dedicated rare-earth minerals corridor. The corridors will also be set up in three other states Odisha, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. Sitharaman also announced seven high-speed railway corridors in India which it described as "growth connectors" to promote environmentally sustainable passenger systems. These include:. Of these two are in Tamil Nadu- the Chennai-Hyderabad and Chennai-Bengaluru corridors. Incidentally ahead of the announcement of the Union Budget, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin took to X to reiterate the state's key demands, including the release of Rs 3,858 crore in education funds allegedly withheld by the Union government and approval for the Coimbatore and Madurai Metro Rail projects. He had further listed the demand of "Rs 3,112 crore for the Jal Jeevan Mission," which he said that Tamil Nadu is implementing effectively, "new railway projects, and a 50% share of the Centre's tax revenue for states, as recommended by the Finance Commission." Stalin further stressed that these should not remain mere announcements, citing the Madurai AIIMS as an example, and demanded that projects be implemented within stipulated timelines with proper budgetary allocation. (ANI)
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