CHENNAI: Following reports that Hwaseung Enterprises, the South Korean footwear maker, has decided to shift its new investment originally planned for Tamil Nadu to Andhra Pradesh now, the key opposition parties of AIADMK and the BJP attacked the ruling DMK for its alleged failure to attract investments and “driving out” investors to other states.
AIADMK general secretary and Leader of the Opposition Edappadi K. Palaniswami said the company’s move was a “humiliating reflection of the DMK government’s failed industrial strategy.”
He claimed that despite Chief Minister M.K. Stalin’s foreign trips and high-profile investor summits, the State had not secured tangible results. “This industrial exodus is happening only under Stalin’s rule,” he alleged.
He further demanded a detailed inquiry into the factors behind industries backing out, alleging corrupt regulatory practices, widespread demands for commissions, poor workplace safety for women, and an “ornamental cabinet of paper ministers.”
He alleged that Hwaseung’s exit was not an isolated case, and contended that investments from Foxconn, Amara Raja Batteries, Lenskart, and Ather Energy have also recently chosen other States.
Claiming that youth seeking jobs had been let down, Palaniswami asserted that only a “stable and corruption-free AIADMK administration” could restore investor faith.
BJP spokesperson Narayanan Thirupathy blamed the DMK government’s “administrative inefficiency and negligence” for industries preferring other states.
Recalling Industries Minister TRB Rajaa’s announcement in August that Hwaseung will set up a footwear manufacturing unit in Tirunelveli district with an investment of Rs 1,720 crore that will create 20,000 direct jobs, Thirupathy called it “painful and disgraceful” that Tamil Nadu had lost out on the opportunity. He said the CM must take full responsibility for the setback.
PMK leader Dr Anbumani Ramadoss said Hwaseung’s decision exposed the State’s declining industrial climate.
Alleging widespread corruption, from project approvals to land allocation, Anbumani said the DMK’s claims of attracting Rs 11.32 lakh crore investments and creating 34 lakh jobs “stand exposed as false.”