DMK picks holes in State’s financial management

Prepared by investment banker turned DMK MLA Palanivel Thiagarajan from Madurai (Central), the report titled “Drowning in debt: And the worst is yet to come” illustrates how the state’s finances have deteriorated under AIADMK rule during the last seven years. 

Citing six different reasons including bouncing of TA/DA reimbursement cheques given to MLAs by the government for preparing the report, which was circulated to the media by the party headquarters here, Thiyagarajan claimed that the state failed to achieve budgeted revenue receipts by about 20 per cent each year despite big increase in payments from the union government. 

Pegging the rise in the state’s debt at Rs 47,000 crore in this financial year, Thiyagarajan, whose maiden Assembly speech was during the budget debate in July 2016, said the state’s debt in the current fiscal would increase at a rate of Rs 6,500 per person. 

Alleging that the state had missed capital investments targets of budget during the last two years, contrary to the investment and growth projections cited in “vision 2023”, the seminal document of AIADMK on economic planning, the DMK accused the AIADMK of taking the state’s debt from Rs 1.05 lakh crore to 2.18 lakh crore in five years, particularly during the last two years when, he claimed, Rs 62,000 crore (53%) debt had been incurred. 

In his elaborate comparison of fiscal management, mainly revenue spending and receipt-expenditure mismatch during DMK and AIADMK regimes, Thiyagarajan however admitted that the first three years of both governments were better. He quickly added that investments in the fifth year (last year of tenure) stood at 331%, against 148% of the AIADMK regime.

Trying to make a comeback after the drubbing in the 2016 Assembly election, the DMDK announced that it will enter the electoral fray in RK Nagar by-poll, slated to be held on April 12.

After breaking his long silence, president of the party Vijayakanth has also announced the candidate’s name for the constituency that fell vacant following the demise of former CM Jayalalithaa. In a statement, Vijayakanth said “The party has decided to field P Mathivanan, who holds the post of district secretary (North Chennai).” 

The DMDK president also sought cooperation from ordinary cadres to top office-bearers to work into the ground for the party’s victory. “The victory is in your hands and make sure you have door to door visit to celebrate victory,” Vijayakanth said. The candidate met Vijayakanth and had a brief meeting. The DMDK, on behalf of PWF, fielded Mathivanan, in the 2016 Assembly election in Kolathur constituency but he was pushed to third place. It may be noted that the DMDK was the leader of the PWF alliance in 2016 Assembly election when the alliance was decimated. Even Vijayakanth, who was declared as the Chief Ministerial candidate was routed in Ulundurpet.