CHENNAI: A day after the Union govt released September retail inflation data, DMK president M K Stalin on Tuesday took a sarcastic swipe at the C Joseph Vijay-led TVK govt, saying Tamil Nadu had overtaken the national average of 5.54% to emerge as a leader in inflation within four months of the new dispensation assuming office.“Within four months of the TVK govt, Tamil Nadu has become the number one state in the country. In what? Inflation and price rise!” Stalin said. He warned that people could face greater hardship in the coming months because of the administration’s failures and its “lack of basic knowledge of governance.”The former chief minister questioned the govt’s handling of rising prices. “It is understandable if they do not know how to control the prices of essential commodities. But people are irritated by the civil supplies minister’s blatant lie that there is no price rise,” he said, referring to minister P Venkataramanan’s recent denial of a rise in essential commodity prices.Turning to power shortages and the govt’s decision to procure electricity from the open market at Rs 35 to Rs 37 per unit, Stalin said the DMK and other opposition parties had been warning of a power shortage for months, but the govt had failed to act in time. Instead, electricity minister C T R Nirmal Kumar pointed to the power situation in Punjab, while the CM had flown off to London, he said.“Is this the change they promised: cancelling low-cost power purchase agreements entered into during the DMK regime and buying electricity at a price higher than any state in India has paid so far,” Stalin asked, referring to the govt’s last-minute procurement plans.“Whose money is this, sir? You are shamelessly admitting that you are going to purchase 15 more MLAs from AIADMK. Questions are now beginning to arise in people’s minds: Is corruption taking place in electricity procurement because you need money to fund these purchases?” Stalin said, referring to minister K A Sengottaiyan’s statement on Sunday.He accused Vijay of ignoring Delta farmers’ views and listening to his astrologer while deciding when to release water from the Mettur dam. Pointing to the Rs 5 crore spent on roadside barricades during Vijay’s visit to Mettur, Stalin asked what the expenditure had achieved. Tail-end farmers were struggling without water, uncertain whether Samba cultivation would even be possible, he said.“Tamil Nadu is crumbling before our eyes, trapped in the hands of a foolish bunch with neither foresight nor brains. The TVK cabinet resembles a troop of monkeys with their tails on fire, leaping from one part of the forest to another and setting everything ablaze,” he said.Stalin criticised Vijay for travelling to different places every month, from Udupi to London to Vijayawada, to attend events instead of focusing on governance.The DMK chief said the negligence and recklessness of a dispensation that lacked even a basic understanding of governance had raised concerns about how people would cope with in the coming months.
