Kolkata, Jan 21 (IANS) The interim budget of the West Bengal government for the financial year 2026-27 will be presented on the floor of the state Assembly by Minister of State for Finance (Independent Charge) Chandrima Bhattacharya on February 2.

“The budget session of the state Assembly will start on January 31, and the interim budget will be presented on February 2,” Speaker Biman Bandopadhyay informed media persons on Wednesday evening.

The budget session of the House will be for an extremely short period of time, with the last day of the session being February 5. It remains to be seen whether any announcement is made in the interim budget about enhanced allocations for different welfare and dole schemes of the state government, especially for the Lakshmir Bhandar project, the monthly dole scheme for women in West Bengal.

To recall, before the 2021 West Bengal Assembly election, the state government presented a full budget for the financial year 2021-22. At that time, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee herself read out the budget speech.

It is learnt that there will be a special meeting of the state Cabinet before the presentation of the interim budget on February 2.

However, this time, the interim budget will be presented by Chandrima Bhattacharya and not the Chief Minister, insiders in the state government said.

The budget session this time is expected to be quite stormy following heated arguments between ruling Trinamool Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators.

The winter session of the West Bengal Assembly was not held this time due to the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in the state. On this issue, the Trinamool Congress has already attacked the Election Commission of India and the BJP for being hand-in-glove in conducting the revision exercise as per the whims of the ruling party at the Centre.

So, going by the daily rift between the West Bengal government and the ECI on the revision exercise, the forthcoming budget session of the House is expected to be stormy.

–IANS

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