LoP Udhayanidhi Stalin questions TVK government's record since assuming office

CHENNAI: Power outages, the future of the Naan Mudhalvan scheme, utilisation of temple funds and the government's performance in its first 40 days dominated proceedings in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Monday as the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the Governor's Address witnessed sharp exchanges between the Opposition and treasury benches.

Leading the attack, Leader of the Opposition Udhayanidhi Stalin questioned the government's record since assuming office and said the Governor's Address had failed to outline any major new initiative. Extending birthday greetings to Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay on behalf of the DMK, he said the Opposition had expected policy announcements but was left disappointed.

Udhayanidhi alleged that Tamil Nadu was witnessing widespread and unannounced power cuts, affecting households, businesses, hospitals and students. Referring to reports of outages even at the ruling party headquarters, he said the government had failed to provide answers to people facing electricity disruptions across the State.

He also sought clarity on reports that the Naan Mudhalvan programme was being curtailed. Pointing out that over 41 lakh youths had benefited from the scheme and that 56 successful UPSC candidates last year were trained under it, he asked why the initiative was being weakened.

The Opposition leader accused the government of claiming credit for schemes launched during the previous DMK regime and questioned its stand on the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department, asking whether it shared the BJP's position on temple administration and educational institutions run by the department.

Regarding the power situation, Energy Resources and Law Minister R Nirmalkumar stated that the government had inherited a debt-burdened sector with nearly 70,000 vacancies and inadequate infrastructure. He announced that a White Paper on the department would be released within two days and stated that a special committee had been formed to address the outages.

Former Electricity Minister V Senthilbalaji rejected the criticism, maintaining that an uninterrupted power supply had been ensured during the DMK regime. AIADMK MLA Agri SS Krishnamurthy also entered the debate, claiming Tamil Nadu had emerged as a power-surplus State under the AIADMK government between 2011 and 2021.