Kerala Budget 2025: Opposition UDF terms Budget ‘a false and cruel construct with no significance’

Kerala's Opposition Leader criticizes the 2025-26 Budget for exacerbating the cost of living crisis and fiscal mismanagement.

Kerala’s Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan on Friday (February 7, 2025) termed the Kerala Budget 2025-26 a “false and cruel construct that rang resoundingly hollow and held no promise for the State”

He said the Budget has “exacerbated” the cost of living crisis for working-class people by proposing an “unreasonably high” 50% increase in land tax. Mr. Satheesan demanded that the government roll back the increase or brace itself for intense street agitations.

Also read | Kerala Budget 2025-26 LIVE updates

At a press conference, Mr. Satheesan said the Budget was “an inconsequential and embroidered document replete with false claims and hyperbole.“

He said the Budget had no bearing on public life because the government’s coffers were dry due to years of fiscal mismanagement and lax tax administration. 

Consequently, Mr. Satheesan said the government had drastically slashed 2024-25 budgetary funds through a surreptitious and illegal executive order to bypass the appropriations approved by the Legislative Assembly.

Mr. Satheesan said that the “clandestine plan fund cut” halted minority scholarships, Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe welfare schemes, and the Left Democratic Front’s (LDF) flagship LIFE Mission scheme to rid Kerala of homelessness.