Chennai

Presenting the Interim Budget for 2026–27 in the Assembly on Tuesday, Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu alleged that the Union government was making sustained efforts to artificially precipitate a fiscal crisis in the state.

While detailing budgetary allocations and outlining the impact of the state government’s flagship schemes, Thennarasu said that although instances of unfair treatment of states by the Centre had occurred in the past, the challenges currently faced by Tamil Nadu were unprecedented in scale.

“In every field — be it the denial of sanction for major infrastructure projects for Tamil Nadu, withholding the release of funds under centrally sponsored schemes, curtailment of tax revenues without due consultation, or the unfair imposition of conditions mandating expenditure — the Union government appears to leave no stone unturned to artificially precipitate a fiscal crisis in Tamil Nadu,” he said.

The Finance Minister also listed several financial constraints encountered by the state during the current financial year, attributing them to changes in fiscal transfers and policy decisions taken by the Centre.

Thennarasu’s Interim Budget speech ran for nearly two-and-a-half hours, making it one of the lengthiest budget addresses delivered in the Tamil Nadu Assembly in recent years.

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With the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections scheduled to be held in April 2026, the Interim Budget is seen as politically significant, setting the tone ahead of the upcoming polls in the state.