CHENNAI: Minister for Natural Resources S Regupathy on Monday alleged that the Union government has betrayed Tamil Nadu through its Budget, adding that State government's long-pending demand to increase the devolution of central tax revenue from 41 per cent to 50 per cent — a demand earlier raised even by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his tenure as Chief Minister of Gujarat — was rejected in the Union Budget.
He pointed out that there were no announcements regarding the release of Rs 3,548 crore due to Tamil Nadu under the Samagra Shiksha scheme and Rs 3,112 crore under the Jal Jeevan Mission. Though Tamil Nadu contributes nearly nine per cent to the country's economy, a four percentage point reduction in tax devolution would result in an annual loss of around Rs 5,000 crore to the State exchequer, he said.
According to the Minister, the only announcements made by the Union government for Tamil Nadu concerned trekking facilities in the Pothigai Hills and bird-viewing towers at Pulicat. Even during the election period, the Union government failed to announce any major new schemes for the State, he alleged.
Regupathy further accused the BJP of neglecting Tamil Nadu after realising that it could not come to power in the State, and asserted that the BJP and AIADMK would never win the forthcoming Assembly elections.