Mumbai, June 25 (IANS) The Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (UBT) on Thursday claimed that the Mahayuti government’s move to present supplementary demands of Rs 97,706.40 crore, barely three months after the annual budget 2026-27, exposes the deterioration in Maharashtra’s financial discipline.

The party said that with public debt soaring to nearly Rs 11 lakh crore, an annual interest burden of Rs 60,000 crore and arbitrary spending from the state treasury, the economy of the Maharashtra government has completely collapsed.

The Thackeray camp, in a scathing editorial in the party’s mouthpiece, ‘Saamana’, taunted that the present situation mirrors an economics student who attaches supplement after supplement to their answer sheet during an exam, only to barely secure a passing grade when the results are announced. “Maharashtra’s ‘supplementary’ champion government is publicly making a mockery of the state’s devastated economy by setting records in supplementary demands,” it remarked.

The editorial argued that for any government, having to hold out a begging bowl for supplementary demands right after the budget is highly embarrassing. “The state government’s financial planning has completely derailed due to reckless extravagance on non-productive activities. Maharashtra once enjoyed an excellent reputation for its financial discipline, but over the last four years, this reputation has completely withered away. During these past four years, the Mahayuti government has gone on a relentless spree of bringing supplementary demands of nearly Rs 5 lakh crore. This is a world record for extra-budgetary spending,” said the editorial.

The Thackeray camp said that ideally, supplementary demands should be utilised just days before the next budget if allocated funds run short at the end of the fiscal year or if a new scheme is suddenly launched. “Today, however, allocations are intentionally concealed in the main budget, and thousands of crores are later demanded through supplementary routes to serve political motives. This time, the government has crossed all limits. With nine full months remaining until the next budget, the government’s revenue and expenditure estimates collapsed within the first three months,” it commented.

The editorial said ironically, when the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) was in power and presented significantly lower supplementary demands, leaders of the current regime — who were then in the opposition — criticised them fiercely, alleging a total breakdown of financial discipline. “Today, those very opposition leaders serve as the state’s Chief Minister and Finance Minister. Despite supplementary demands crossing Rs 5 lakh crore in four years under their watch, they no longer view it as financial indiscipline,” it added.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena sarcastically said the ‘Supplementary-Champion’ government is setting a record for supplementary demands and publicly humiliating the economy of a state that was once renowned for its financial discipline. The government is out in the open, single-handedly dismantling the economic legacy of a state once revered for its financial rectitude.

–IANS

sj/dpb