In a scathing indictment of Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram at an election rally in his native Karaikudi on Friday, AIADMK general secretary and Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa dubbed his twin tenures in the UPA I and II regimes as a failure.
“It is during his period that India’s economic growth has slowed down, inflation has spiraled, the Indian rupee has slid against the US dollar, exports have fallen and imports have grown. The Indian economy has been pushed to the brink of disaster,” the Chief Minister charged.
She accused the Finance Minister of reducing fund allocations for the State Governments.
Citing an example, she charged that during 2013-14, though `79,790 crore was allocated in the original budget estimate, the amount was reduced by nearly 14.5% in the revised estimate.
Elaborating, Jayalalithaa said that the Centre was yet to allot `439 crore to the State as its share towards the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) scheme for 2011-12.
Similarly, `439 crore in 2012-13 and `17.38 crore in 2013-14 has not been disbursed to Tamil Nadu under the scheme.
Further, the Centre had not given `5.56 crore for the State Council of Education Research and Training during 2011-12 and `11.27 crore during 2012-13. “Cumulatively, under both these schemes, the Centre has not allotted `976 crore,” she
alleged.
Besides, as per the recommendation of 13th Finance Commission, the Central Government has to allocate `931 crore for road maintenance for two years to Tamil Nadu, but so far the fund has not been allocated, she charged.
Therefore, Jayalalithaa urged the voters to teach a fitting lesson to Chidambaram’s son Karti who was contesting from the Sivaganga constituency this time as his father had opted out of the race.