Virudhunagar , Tamil Nadu, 19/04,/2026. Thangam Thennarasu DMK candidate for DMK candidate for Tiruchuli Assembly constituency .Photo . Moorthy. G/ The Hindu. | Photo Credit: MOORTHY G

The new Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) government intends to use the White Paper on Finances as a tool to avoid fulfilling its pre-poll promises, former finance minister Thangam Thennarasu said here on Wednesday. “It is a form of escapism and indicates their inability to satisfy the welfare promises,” he said.

He was reacting to the White Paper on the Fiscal Management of Tamil Nadu released by the government on Tuesday.

Speaking about the white paper’s comments on debt levels, Thennarasu challenged the current TVK government to borrow less than the average annual borrowing of the last five years. He said he would give up all his positions if the TVK government implements the “good schemes of the DMK government” as highlighted by the white paper and fulfils its election promises through lower annual borrowing.

The White Papers of the past (in 2001 and 2021) focused on 10 and 15 prior years of finances. However, this time, the TVK government has chosen to focus only on the finances of the state during DMK rule in the last five years, he pointed out.

“Our government satisfied people’s promises despite the fiscal strain we had post Covid, but this government is trying to wriggle out of its promises using fiscal space as a reason,” he said.

As for comparison with peer states, he said that welfare schemes in peer states like Gujarat are much lesser compared to those of Tamil Nadu.

He also pointed out that the TVK government, which criticised slow capex in the last five years, has been seeking to discontinue projects such as the ECR elevated highway and the Parandur airport project, both of which are capital expenditure.

Reacting to the white paper’s comments on revenue deficit, he said that the report has not spoken about the external causes such as the GST rate rationalisation and funds that remain stuck from the Union government under Samagra Shiksha, Jal Jeevan Mission and other schemes. “The TVK government is somehow not ready to blame the Union government for all the challenges they have imposed on us,” he said.

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Published on June 17, 2026