AIADMK–DMK Spar Over TN Economy, Debt during assembly debate

Chennai: The DMK and the AIADMK locked horns over the state of Tamil NAdu's economy and mounting debt during the debate on the interim budget for 2026-27.Former AIADMK minister K P Munusamy triggered the debate by questioning whether TN could reach the one trillion-dollar economy target by 2030 if it continued to grow at the current pace. He also criticised the DMK regime over the rising debt that breached ₹10 lakh crore mark.
Munusamy compared Tamil Nadu's debt position with that of Uttar Pradesh and noted that UP, despite having twice TN's population, has a debt of only around ₹ 7 lakh crore, while TN's debt stands at ₹10.71 lakh crore. "We (AIADMK) ruled the state till 2021 and the total debt was ₹5 lakh crore. But this govt borrowed ₹5.50 lakh crore in the last 5 years. This stands testimony to the present dispensation's poor governance and financial management," he said.Countering him, finance minister Thangam Thennarasu said that despite the debt, the state achieved double-digit economic growth, clocking 11.19%. Referring to Munusamy's comparison between TN and UP, Thangam said the Union govt assisted and extended financial support to UP, while following discriminatory approaches towards TN. He accused the Centre of creating artificial financial constraints for the state.Joining the debate, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami said 65% of the people in the state depend on agriculture for their livelihood. However, growth in this sector declined, he said, noting that it fell from around 5% in 2020-21 to 3.8% in 2025-26.Responding, Thennarasu said the state is making efforts to improve growth in agriculture and allied sectors.DMK MLA N Ezhilan said the BJP govt at the "Centre is waging an economic war on Tamil Nadu" by not allocating funds. "Centre's fund allocation to TN increased by a meagre 0.44% while the fund allocation for other states increased in double digits. Despite this, TN is growing in double digits and is maintaining fiscal deficit under 3.5% as mandated by the FRBM Act," Ezhilan said.Meanwhile, there was a heated debate between the DMK and the AIADMK on the issue of discontinued projects of the DMK by the AIADMK.