Patna: Leader of opposition in the Bihar state assembly, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, on Friday criticized the state government over the financial position of Bihar and questioned the utilization of the contingency fund for routine expenditures such as monthly pension payments.
Tejashwi alleged that Bihar’s finances were deteriorating due to poor fiscal management, citing falling revenue, a rising fiscal deficit, increasing debt, and growing interest liabilities.
“Under the leadership of an inexperienced Chief Minister, the government’s budgetary management is so poor, the financial condition so worse, and the circumstances so dire that only three months of the financial year 2026-27 have passed, and yet 3662 crore rupees have to be withdrawn from the Contingency Fund even for routine payments and works such as the disbursement of ordinary monthly pensions,” he said.
He argued that the government should explain why the contingency fund was being used for regular expenditure instead of normal budgetary provisions. Referring to constitutional provisions, he said the fund was meant for unforeseen emergencies.
“The governor can sanction advance amounts from this fund to deal with any sudden crisis arising in the state. In such a situation, the government will have to clarify what strange financial circumstance has arisen, without any change in the system, that the contingency fund was used even for the disbursement of ordinary monthly pensions — social security pension which has been regularly going into the beneficiary’s account every month for decades,” he said.
BJP spokesperson Manoj Sharma rejected the allegations, saying Tejashwi was unaware of the current budget position because he remained absent during the budget session.
“The NDA government had helped Bihar come out of the crisis after the RJD government and now we are a growing state. In fact, the monsoon session is just around the corner and we will be presenting a supplementary budget. Tejashwi can raise questions in the House. But the fact is that he remains absent from the House and goes out and hides somewhere when the session goes on,” he added.
