AIADMK General Secretary and Leader of Opposition Edappadi K. Palaniswami was addressing the media after attending the interim budget meeting at the Secretariat in Chennai on Tuesday. | Photo credit: B. JOTHI RAMALINGAM
AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Tuesday reiterated his allegation that the DMK regime had “let down” state government employees.
In his reaction to the interim budget presented in the assembly earlier in the day, Mr. Palaniswami claimed in an interaction with reporters that not even one-fourth of the election promises made by the DMK ahead of the 2021 polls have been fulfilled. Be it the old pension scheme for civil servants or matters related to mid-day meals workers, government nurses and farmers, the government has done nothing to translate its assurances into practice. “Just like the last five years, this budget is a misleading address and is full of word-juggling,” Mr. Palaniswami alleged.
He also claimed that the burden of loans and taxes had increased. Although the finance and agriculture ministers gave budget speeches for a total of five hours, there was “nothing concrete” in them, he added.
In a post on his social media website, TTV Dhinakaran Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) general secretary slammed the DMK regime for being “not interested in productive plans” and “only increasing the loan”. Former AIADMK interim general secretary VK Sasikala, in a statement, wanted to know from the government how many buses were procured for the public transport system as 12,087 were announced to be purchased at a cost of ₹6,121 crore in the last five years.
Published – 17 Feb 2026 22:56 IST