Chennai, Mar 14 (PTI) Tamil Nadu Budget for 2025-26 did not address the 'serious' issues afflicting the people nor even the ruling DMK government's promise to scrap NEET, but eyed merely the 2026 Assembly election, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami said on Friday.

Though it had announced some projects, the DMK government has not spelt out the source of funding for those initiatives in the Budget today, he said.

"The DMK came to power in 2021 promising to cancel the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) but has done precious little so far. Its other poll assurances have remained unfulfilled," the former CM told reporters here.

Tamil Nadu was already reeling under debt and there was no funding for the projects that have already been announced, he claimed. New projects could only be implemented by borrowing, Palaniswami said reacting to the Budget presented by Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu in the Assembly earlier in the day.

BJP state chief K Annamalai said the Budget was a mere 'eyewash exercise.' "Our MLAs walked out of the Assembly today for the simple reason that the whole Budget is an eyewash exercise. There's nothing productive about it. Secondly, the Tamil Nadu government is yet to learn its lesson from yesterday's symbol fiasco," Annamalai told reporters here.

He further said, "We have seen the whole controversy that was artificially created by the Tamil Nadu government yesterday purposefully. They wanted to change our rupee symbol, and they created so much ruckus over it." The Enforcement Directorate's Friday raid on the state-owned TASMAC liquor outlets only indicated that the "DMK had received more than Rs 1,000 crore in kickbacks," Annamalai alleged.

BJP legislator Vanathi Srinivasan alleged that the DMK government 'lost its credibility.' "They are trying to go against the nation's rupee symbol. This amounts to disrespecting the Constitution,” she claimed. PTI JSP ROH

Budget transparency concerns: unfunded project announcements risk borrowing and neglect core public commitments. The State Budget for 2025-26 was criticised as prioritising electoral objectives over solving public problems by announcing projects without disclosed funding sources, risking further borrowing given existing debt, and failing to advance major campaign promises such as cancelling NEET.