Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president and former Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik expressed sharp criticism of the Union Budget 2026 on Sunday, accusing the Central government of neglecting Odisha in major developmental allocations and announcements.
In a statement shared on X, Patnaik argued that the Budget 2026 failed to deliver significant benefits to the state, noting that public expectations for a “double-engine government” to spark growth through infrastructure and job creation remained unfulfilled.
“I express my disappointment on the #Budget2026 presented today by the Union Government. The budget has offered no noteworthy benefits to #Odisha and its people. The anticipation from the people of Odisha was that the double engine government would offer a growth momentum with focus on infrastructure, job creation and additional allocation which is due to the state. The state has received very little,” Patnaik wrote in the post.
While the former Chief Minister acknowledged the proposal for a Rare Earth Corridor in Odisha, he dismissed other transport-related announcements as outdated.
“Odisha is the leading producer of several key minerals and will always contribute to nation building through its rich resources. It has again been announced to have National Waterways to connect mineral rich areas and industrial centres to the Ports. But this is a decade old proposal without any progress on the ground,” he said.
The BJD chief further highlighted Odisha’s exclusion from the newly announced seven High-Speed Rail corridors and the Buddhist Circuit tourism scheme.
“It is a huge disappointment for the people of Odisha that the announcement to develop seven High-Speed Rail corridors between cities as ‘growth connectors’ does not feature Odisha. Odisha BJP nipped the #BhubaneswarMetro project earlier and the neglect of people’s needs continues as usual. And it’s quite baffling that the Tourism centric Scheme for Development of Buddhist Circuits has completely skipped Odisha despite having several very important Buddhist sites including our Diamond Triangle,” Patnaik’s post further read.
I express my disappointment on the #Budget2026 presented today by the Union Government. The budget has offered no noteworthy benefits to #Odisha and its people.
The anticipation from the people of Odisha was that the double engine government would offer a growth momentum with…
— Naveen Patnaik (@Naveen_Odisha) February 1, 2026
“As seen from the entirety of the Union Budget, Odisha is getting allocations only for taking its natural resources away and completely ignored when it comes to resource allocation for benefit of people of the State. It’s time the State BJP Govt takes responsibility for people of Odisha and ensure they get their rightful dues from centre. Odisha and its people deserve more and better from the Union Budget,” Patnaik added.
BJD MP Sasmit Patra said Budget 2026 was a missed opportunity for the state, especially given its inclusion in the “Purvodaya” region.
He noted the irony of a rail corridor connecting cities like Mumbai, Varanasi, and Siliguri while completely bypassing Odisha, despite the state’s strategic importance in the eastern development belt.
Patra also welcomed the Rare Earth processing system proposed in Odisha, but questioned its broader impact.
“It says that there will be a rare earth processing system in Odisha and the coastal part of it. Rare earth processing is good; that’s perfectly fine. But will it help the local communities? Will it help the farmers? Will it help the tribal communities? It’s a specialised unit for a specialised outcome where people of Odisha at large will not benefit,” he added.
On Sunday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2026-27 in Lok Sabha, which was her ninth consecutive Union Budget.
