EPS says CM Stalin has no answers for questions on State’s economy

CHENNAI: Leader of the Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami on Thursday hit out at Chief Minister MK Stalin by stating that the CM is trying to deflect the issue related to the state economy and financial management instead of answering his straightforward questions. He also reiterated that the DMK government has failed to honour its poll promises.

Countering the CM's criticism that it was the AIADMK regime that made TN, which was a revenue-surplus state in 2011, a revenue-deficit one in 2013 at a government functioning in Sivagangai, Palaniswami said the CM and his cabinet colleagues Thangam Thenarasu and V Senthilbalaji displaying their grudge for flagging the State government's wrong policies.

"Being the Leader of the Opposition, I am doing my duty by pointing out the Stalin model government's sorry state of affairs," Palaniswami said and continued that the CM, Finance Minister Thangam Thenarasu and Electricity Minister Senthilbalaji venting out their anger and it shows that he is "going on the right path" in serving people.

He also justified his statement on microblogging regarding the alleged murder of his party functionary and anti-mining activist Jagafar Ali, which was identical to state BJP Chief K Annamalai's social media post. "Whoever posts their statement in X has to refer to certain information regarding the incident, the victim and the anti-social element's involvement. If we can issue a statement, we can write in detail, " he said, and noted that the ruling party resorted to their strategy of diverting the issue by calling his social media post as a "copy-paste" of the BJP social media post. It is a shameful act.

He demanded the CM take corrective measures to stabilise the state's economic condition and act on issues flagged by the opposition party for the welfare of the people.