CHENNAI: The TNCC president K S Alagiri on Saturday sought an explanation from BJP state president K Annamalai on the Centre’s rising debt burden that increased by Rs 100 lakh crore in the nine years of the BJP rule.
In a statement, the Congress leader said the Centre’s debt burden (internal, external, and other liabilities) stood at Rs 153 lakh crore as of March 31, 2023, and is estimated to be Rs 169 lakh crore at the end of 2023-24. “In a year, the debt burden increased by Rs 16 lakh crore, whereas the outstanding debt when the Congress-led UPA regime left office in 2014 was only Rs 59 crore,” Alagiri said, hitting out at the BJP state chief for his remarks on the outstanding debt burden of Tamil Nadu government.
Recalling the release of white paper on state finances by the DMK government soon after it took charge, the TNCC president said: “DMK government is not responsible for the current debt burden. The chief minister acts responsibly to implement the majority of the poll promises.” The state government announced flood relief assistance of Rs 6,000 and Ponal gift hamper and cash of Rs 1,000 whereas the Centre refused to announce the recent events as a natural calamity and still not released the NDRF funds to Tamil Nadu.
Alagiri charged the Union government with disparities in allocation of funds to Tamil Nadu and the BJP-ruled states. Tamil Nadu government claimed that it received only 29 paise in return for every rupee it contributed to the Central taxes. The people of Tamil Nadu will teach a fitting lesson to the Union government that refused to support the people who are grieving over the tragedy, he said.
