CHENNAI: AIADMK general secretary Edappadi KPalaniswami on Tuesday launched a sharp attack on the DMK government after the presentation of the 2026-27 interim Budget, accusing it of betraying public trust and failing to honour its poll promises.
Addressing reporters in the Assembly complex, he said the ruling party’s “last Budget” was marked by rhetoric rather than substance and claimed that the fiscal position of the State had deteriorated over the past five years.
Seeking to dramatise what he described as the government “cheating” the public, the AIADMK distributed invitation cards for a mock kaadhu kuthal ceremony to media persons earlier in the day. The gesture, Palaniswami said, was meant to symbolise the extent to which the people had been “made to listen to empty promises” under the DMK’s rule.
He alleged that the DMK had failed to implement even a quarter of the 525 assurances made in the 2021 Assembly election manifesto. He cited the rollback on the old pension scheme for government employees and unfulfilled commitments to anganwadi workers, noon-meal staff, part-time teachers, nurses and farmers as examples of what he called a pattern of broken promises.
Palaniswami also flagged a fall in the State’s own tax and non-tax revenues in the revised estimates for 2025-26, a widening fiscal deficit and higher borrowings. He accused the Finance Minister of blaming the Centre while offering no explanation for the shortfall in the State’s own revenues and the higher deficit. The former Chief Minister reiterated his charge that the DMK government lacked fiscal discipline and administrative competence.
On the Agriculture Budget, he contended that the exercise bundled multiple departments and failed to address farmers’ core concerns, and said the presentation amounted to a repackaging of past initiatives. Responding to questions, he alleged that the government had also gone back on its promise of holding the Assembly for 100 days a year and criticised the partial telecast of House proceedings.
“The DMK government’s interim Budget is all gloss and no substance. This Budget session will mark the beginning of the end of its rule,” Palaniswami said, asserting that the AIADMK-led NDA would return to power in 2026.