TN budget an exercise to mislead people: Karuna

Slamming the ruling AIADMK for imposing fresh taxes in its budget, DMK president M Karunanidhi described it as mere "word play".

Chennai: Slamming the ruling AIADMK for imposing fresh taxes in its budget, DMK president M Karunanidhi on Tuesday described it as mere "word play", saying it
was an exercise which "misled" people and concealed facts.

In a letter to party workers, he also questioned the
status of various programmes announced in the previous budget
by Finance Minister O Panneerselvam, including a housing
scheme which replaced the one launched by his previous
government.

"The DMK government never imposed fresh taxes in its five
year-tenure even as it maintained a good fiscal position,
including the state`s own tax resources," he said.

The budget lacked measures regarding controlling prices,
creation of employment, power generation or increasing
people`s purchasing power, claimed the former Chief Minister.

"It`s a budget that conceals many facts, misleads and
imposes new taxes (to the tune of Rs 1,500 crore) and has
failed to meet people`s expectations. It is only word-play and
will these be useful to raise the people`s standard of
living..?" he asked.

The ruling AIADMK, which had transferred so many IAS
officers after it assumed power, chose to retain Finance
Secretary Shanmugam, which was proof of DMK`s good showing in
the Finance front, Karunanidhi said.

However, the DMK`s "good show" has been either concealed
or people have been misled on its performance as the Finance
Minister repeatedly accused the previous government of poor
performance with regard to finances, he said.

PTI

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