India, March 21 -- Himachal Pradesh chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Saturday presented a budget that saw the overall outlay shrink for the first time in the state's history. Slashing the budget size by Rs.3,586 crore-down from last year's Rs.58,514 crore to Rs.54,928 crore-the CM termed the move a testament to his government's "himmat (courage)" to tackle a mounting debt trap left by the previous BJP regime.

The House erupted in chaos as Sukhu blamed the discontinuation of the Revenue Deficit Grant (RDG) and the end of GST compensation for the state's financial distress. He directly accused the BJP of pushing Himachal into a debt trap, stating that the crisis could have been avoided had they settled outstanding loans. When the C...