AIADMK slams Tamil Nadu government for "soaring debt" in state budget

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], February 19 (ANI): Criticising the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government for not announcing any big schemes in the state Budget, Leader of Opposition Edappadi Palaniswami said that the debt of the state government has soared to Rs 8,58,000 crores.
"After the DMK came to power in Tamil Nadu, debt increased to Rs 8.33 lakh crore. This government has formed a financial expertise team, and we don't know about what happened to that. Earlier they used to criticise our government that we runs the government in debt and now the Finance Minister has forgotten to say that Tamil Nadu is number one when it comes to debt," Palaniswami said speaking to reporters after the state budget was presented on Monday.
Palaniswami said that while revenue has increased under the DMK government through GST, no new schemes were launched nor big announcements were made.
"We AIADMK have made infrastructure developments and alloted funds for it. The names of our AIADMK schemes were changed and renamed as their (DMK) schemes," he claimed.
Speaking on the new E-Busses that have been announced, Palaniswami said, "It is only in papers and they don't implement it, this is Dravidian model government."
Speaking about the Investors' meeting, he said, "Let's see how much they implement. It's our Jayalalitha, who introduced Investors meeting and many new industries came up."
On transparency about employment opportunities in the state, Palaniswami said, "After this government (DMK ) came to power, we asked how much employment came into the state and how much revenue came in, should be given as white paper but still they have not given it."
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Congress president K Selvaperunthagai said that the state budget was excellent especially since the central government has not disbursed Tamil Nadu's share of GST.
"It is an excellent budget. PM Modi's government has not given our GST share even though our finance minister did good for the Tamil Nadu people. They are giving a lot of funds to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, where the ruling party is BJP, they are giving a lot of funds. We are giving GST tax to the central government. Our share should be returned," Selvaperunthagai said speaking to ANI.
On the other hand, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Vanathi Srinivasan accused the state government of taking credit for all central government schemes.
"The state government here is taking credit for the schemes of the central government...," Srinivasan said.
The BJP MLA also clarified that the central government has already paid the first installment under flood relief.
"...as far as the flood situation is concerned, the central government has already given the first instalment. They are repeatedly lying that not even Rs 1 has been given to Tamil Nadu. This is not true," he said.
Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Thangam Thenarassu presented the state's budget for the fiscal year 2024-2025 in the Assembly on Monday. The budget outlines a comprehensive plan encompassing various sectors, ranging from education and infrastructure to social welfare and cultural preservation. (ANI)