Bengal spending only on dole, lagging on capex: Union minister
Times of India | 12 February 2026
Kolkata: Union minister Bhupendra Yadav on Wednesday said the Bengal govt was "constantly taking loans for capital expenditure" and did not have a concept of income.
"It (the state govt) has mortgaged the future of Bengal," Yadav said, adding that low capital expenditure has led to decline in industrial activity, which in turn, "has led to low employment and low consumption. Bengal is also lagging in crucial sectors like healthcare or education."
Targeting the state govt for spending "only on dole", Yadav said that while states like Bihar also provide financial support to women, they also groom women into small entrepreneurs. "They also provide loans of Rs 2 lakh. The two cases cannot be compared," he said.
The Union minister called the Bengal govt's recent vote-on-account "Trinamool's farewell letter". He went on to say that Bengal was the only state where "the chief minister had fought against her own employees".
"While govt employees in other states have received benefits of the seventh pay commission, employees in Bengal are still fighting for the sixth pay commission," he said.
Leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari, who had earlier flagged "a financial crisis in the state after March", said, "The state govt would have to pay around Rs 11,000 crore by March 6. If there is a violation of the Supreme Court order, BJP will actively support the employees."