31 lakh jobs created in three years in TN, says TRB Rajaa

CHENNAI: State Industries Minister TRB Rajaa on Wednesday hit back at Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami for questioning the investment attracted by the incumbent DMK regime and said that the Leader of Opposition (LoP) must stop issuing politically prejudiced statements.

Claiming that Chief Minister MK Stalin has attracted nearly Rs 10 lakh crore in investments and created 31 lakh jobs in the last three years, Rajaa requested the LoP to stop issuing politically prejudiced statements and take pride as a Tamilian in the growth of Tamil Nadu from now on.

Calling the August 6 dated statement of the LoP about foreign investment and industrial development in Tamil Nadu as baseless, fundamentally flawed and malicious, the industries minister, in a statement, said that if the LoP truly cared about the overall development of the state, he should have worked to highlight Tamil Nadu’s achievements to the world.

The LoP has proven his lack of genuine concern for the real growth of Tamilians by speaking in the voice of the Union BJP, denigrating our entrepreneurs and hardworking workers, and making statements only to retain his temporary position as his party’s General Secretary, the Minister remarked, pointing out that despite a decline in foreign investments across India in the year 2023-24, investments in Tamil Nadu increased by 12.3%.

Arguing that FDI was not the perfect indicator of growth, the CM said that the reason was that even though companies bring their investments to one state, it is credited to the state where their headquarters are located.

Therefore, experts do not consider this a proper indicator. Nonetheless, the Honourable Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu has secured investments worth nearly 10 lakh crore rupees and created more than 31 lakh jobs in Tamil Nadu in the past three years alone, he added. Accusing the BJP-led NDA government of trying to forcefully move semiconductor companies to other states, Rajaa said that Chief Minister Stalin publicly spoke out against it while the LoP remained silent, demonstrating insincerity.

Questioning why the LoP did not bring a single paise investment in the textile sector if he were concerned about the sector, the Minister said that the investment worth Rs 20,162.44 crore flowed into the textile sector owing to incentives worth over 500 crore rupees, including a 6% interest subsidy announced for the textile sector.

Rajaa said that the Chief Minister’s tours to the UAE, Singapore, Japan, and Spain alone have resulted in investments to the tune of Rs 10881.9 crore rupees and created 17,371 jobs.