Leader of the Opposition Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Monday said there had been no suppression of information with regard to the fiscal health of the previous AIADMK regime.
Answering a question on the present government citing the financial condition of the government as the reason for not reducing the prices of petrol and diesel, Mr. Palaniswami said at the time of the presentation of the [interim] Budget [in February], the position was made known to people through the media. But the DMK, knowing this fully well, went on making the promise during the election on the reduction of the fuel prices, and it included the assurance in its election manifesto.
Pointing out that Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan was “not unaware” of the situation, Mr. Palaniswami, who termed as “disappointing” the Governor’s address to the Assembly, said the refusal of the DMK government to lower fuel prices had shown that the party would have one stance before and after the election and another after the poll.
AIADMK coordinator O. Panneerselvam said after the DMK government assumed office, the prices of petrol and diesel had gone up by ₹5 and ₹4 a litre.
Regretting that several electoral assurances of the DMK had not been mentioned in the Governor’s address, he said there was no reference in the Governors’s address to the restoration of the monthly billing cycle for domestic consumers of electricity and the old pension scheme for government employees and teachers. The people were concerned over “frequent disruptions” in power supply, he said.
On the announcement that 63,500 petitions had been disposed of under the Ungal Thoguthiyil Muthalamaichar (Chief Minister in Your Constituency) scheme, Mr. Panneerselvam said no information had been given as to the total number of petitions received and the proportion of petitions in the overall tally that had been resolved.
In a couple of tweets, AMMK general secretary T.T.V. Dhinakaran said one had to watch how the DMK government, which was “struggling to act constructively” in matters such as the Mekedatu dam, NEET and the reduction of the State-level VAT on petrol and diesel would implement the announcements in the Governor’s address.
