CHENNAI: Chief Minister MK Stalin on Sunday described as a blatant lie the BJP’s claim that the union government allocated Rs 10.76 lakh crore to Tamil Nadu in the last 10 years. Rather, TN has been given Rs 5.5 lakh crore in contrast to Rs 18.5 lakh crore allocated to Uttar Pradesh in the same period, Stalin claimed.
Referring to election advertisements issued by the BJP in Sunday’s newspapers in which the national party claimed its union government had “generously” allocated Rs 10.76 lakh crore to the state, the DMK chief, in a post on X, said that even within its “false claim”, the BJP had further reeled out “fraudulent accounts” under a few heads like the AIIMS hospital (Rs 1,960 crore) in Madurai, Chennai Metro Rail project (Rs 63,246 crore) and Sagarmala project (Rs 2 lakh crore). The AIIMS hospital is yet to be built, and the CMRL and Sagarmala projects have not received a rupee, he said.
‘Where is all of TN govt’s income going ?’
“Thus, by reeling out these false claims, the BJP-led union government is trying to hoodwink the people of Tamil Nadu,” he added. Stalin explained that there are two components in the devolution of funds from the union government: The first is direct devolution of funds according to the recommendation of the union finance commission.
Under this, TN was given Rs 5.5 lakh crore while UP got Rs 18.5 lakh crore. The second component is allocation of funds for schemes to be implemented by union government directly in the states. Regarding the second component, BJP has reeled out many false accounts, he said.
Daring the union ministers to detail the funds spent on these projects in past decade, Stalin asked, “The BJP has included Rs 2.5 lakh crore of loans availed by MSMEs in TN as amount given by the BJP government. This is the wildest lie the has BJP reeled out. Please spare our ears.
How many lies can the country bear?” Responding to the CM’s charges, BJP state president K Annamalai, in a post on X, said Sports Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin has been claiming that the central government has given just Rs 1.7 lakh crore, while the CM is saying the State received Rs 5.5 lakh crore.
“In which account will you keep the funds spent by the central government on improving highways, railway stations, harbours, airports and grants for the schemes being implemented in Tamil Nadu? Since you can’t affix your ‘sticker’ on these schemes, does it mean that these are not funded by the central government?” he asked.
“Can you explain what you are doing with the tax money you receive from TASMAC income, increase in fees for non-existent electricity, house tax, property tax, increase in drinking water charges, increase in registration fee, increase in the price of milk, etc? These constitute 70% of income coming directly to TN government, why the employees, teachers, transport employees are protesting in Tamil Nadu? Where does all the income coming to Tamil Nadu government go?” Annamalai questioned.
He also said union ministers had assured that the AII MS hospital would be in place in Madurai by 2026 but the CM has been repeatedly asking about it.