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As Tamil Nadu heads towards crucial elections, the political battle over governance and finances is intensifying.
In this exclusive conversation with OneIndia, BJP national spokesperson Gopal Krishna Agarwal raises serious questions on the DMK government’s handling of public funds, alleging lack of transparency in the utilisation of over ₹80,000 crore received from the Centre.
With the state’s debt projected to cross ₹10.7 lakh crore by 2027, concerns over off-budget borrowings, rising deficits, and PSU liabilities- especially TANGEDCO- are now central to the political debate.

Watch the full interview.

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Transcript
00:00Party functionary from DMK himself was found to be indulging in the drug trafficking of more than 2,000 crore
00:09scam.
00:09The fiscal responsibility which the government of DMK should have followed has not been followed.
00:17These are serious issues, they will create a bad economy model for Tamina.
00:22Hi, hello, welcome to the One India Tamil.
00:25I am joined by Mr. Gopalakrishna Harwal, National Spokesperson of Bharat Janata Patry for Economic Affairs.
00:32Vanakum sir.
00:33Vanakum.
00:34I have lot of questions about Tamil Nadu election, but I would like to start with your department finance.
00:41Tamil Nadu dips may crash 10.7 lakh crore by 2027.
00:47What is your plan to reduce the dip if your alliance will win the election?
00:52The issue is the amount of debt that the Stalin government has projected in this budget 2026 is quite alarming.
01:04They themselves are saying that the debt for the Tamil Nadu will cross 10.71 lakh crores.
01:11It's a huge amount and it is almost more than 26% of state GDP.
01:18It is nearing the upper cap that has been prescribed by the Niti Aayog and it is very alarming.
01:26It is because I think that the expenditure has not been properly maintained.
01:34The fiscal responsibility which the government of DMK should have followed has not been followed.
01:41Continuously they are in just spending and not targeting for the welfare schemes of the people.
01:54Their expenditure on salaries, their expenditure on pension and the administrative expense that the state government budget has,
02:04has crossed 64% of the total expenditure, the deficit already has crossed 3% of the GSDP and it
02:15is expected to be around 1.21 lakh crores.
02:23It is expected to be crossing this limit and the thing is I think this limit will also cross because
02:34last year they had a debt of 1.24 lakh crores this fiscal deficit.
02:41So they have to manage their finances well, reduce their administrative expenses, find out new sources of revenue for the
02:52government and remove corruption.
02:55Ultimately the expenditure which they are doing it is not reaching to the common man properly because of corruption of
03:04DMK government, Stalin government.
03:06We want to efficiently maintain the welfare scheme so that they go to the right person without any leakages and
03:18corruption.
03:19Second important thing is they are saying that central government is not giving enough funds.
03:24It is not correct.
03:25In their own budget the share of union governments fund transfer to the state is more than 62,000 crores
03:36plus additionally the central government is giving 24,000 crores for one year for various special schemes.
03:46So it is more than 85,000 crores of funds that the center is giving it is alarming their interest
03:56outgo payment on this debt is 80,000 crores so then more than 60,000 crores is going to repayment
04:06so ultimately their finances are not properly managed high debt is a risky thing.
04:12It will lead to bankruptcy of the state if proper action is not taken and therefore I urge the people
04:20of Tamil Nadu to change this corrupt government, change this mismanagement of finances that is taking place under the DMK
04:29government.
04:30And we have released from the professional cell a detailed document about bad finances that the Tamil Nadu, white paper
04:39on the finances problem that the Tamil Nadu is facing.
04:45Okay, okay.
04:46You put more allegations on government but Tamil Nadu government says it signed MOUs more than 12,000,000 crores.
04:54But there is a criticism like it has little has turned into the real projects, if it is true why
05:03do you think that it is?
05:05No, ultimately Stalin is saying that we have signed an MOU of 12,000,000 crores and the actual figure
05:14on the ground breaking is not more than 8 or 9 percent.
05:18Okay.
05:19And this is very serious, the industry like semiconductor which are the upcoming industries which had planned to establish their
05:29unit in Tamil Nadu, they have moved to Gujarat, same way Google has said that they will be implementing AI
05:42centre in Tamil Nadu, it has moved to Andhra Pradesh.
05:45So, they have lost many opportunities, more than 15 lakh crores opportunities of investment which could have come to Tamil
05:54Nadu because of their mismanagement, it is not fructifying.
05:59Even 15,000 MSME units have closed down during this period.
06:06So, they have to answer how they will create ease of living, ease of doing business, if they don't have
06:13capital expenditure, budget, they don't create infrastructure, how the infrastructure will improve, how there will be demand in the economy.
06:23They are not answering this.
06:25Okay.
06:25They are losing continuously employment opportunities.
06:30Youth is finding that if economy is not strengthened, they will not have opportunities for future for employment.
06:38Okay.
06:38So, it is an important issue that economic management and proper welfare schemes are balanced together.
06:48Even their public sector undertakings like Tamil Nadu electricity distribution company is under heavy debt, it is resorting to off
06:58budget borrowing and the transport company public sector, state and public sector undertaking in the transport sector has not been
07:09able to pay provident fund of about 28,000 employees for last 25 months.
07:16So, these are serious issues, they will create a bad economy model for Tamil Nadu.
07:22Okay.
07:24If you have the power, how will you ensure the investment, it actually work to the ground?
07:33No, ultimately if you look into other states, like Uttar Pradesh is progressing, now Madhapadesh is developing, the state government
07:42have to focus on implementation of the government.
07:45MOUs at the ground level.
07:48Okay.
07:48And they should have a hand holding for the industries.
07:51There should be control on the corruption of the party office bearers.
07:59DMK everybody is known to be highly corrupt.
08:04Their staff, their employees are not working efficiently.
08:10So, you have to ensure this, you have to go for fiscal responsibility, you have to manage your expenditures, administrative
08:18costs, you have to generate more resources which can create better fiscal responsibilities for the government.
08:28So, we will ensure, we will ensure, we have done, at the central level, if you look into macroeconomic
08:33parameters, we have very high GDP growth rate, we have strong reserves, our inflation is under
08:43control.
08:44So, Stalin is saying that, I want to achieve a $1 trillion GDP for Tamil Nadu by 2030.
08:54For achieving that, he needs a nominal GDP growth rate of 16%.
09:00Tamil Nadu is nowhere near that.
09:02And they are not even taking care of the drug menace.
09:06The young people from the Tamil Nadu, children of our families, etc. are getting this menace
09:14and are losing hope for the future.
09:17The suicide rate is second highest for Tamil Nadu across different states.
09:23Women are not finding it safe, even cases of POSCO has increased manifold.
09:32And even SCST, they are also not feeling comfortable because the National Crime Report Bureau, NCRB report
09:44says that about 47% of detainees which are in jail are from SC community.
09:54When the population is 20% and 47% of people in jail are belonging to SC community.
10:03So SCs are not safe, women are not safe, our children are feeling the menace of drugs.
10:10Tamil Nadu has a long coastal line of more than 1000 km.
10:17Huge drug trafficking is taking place.
10:21Jafar Siddik, party functionary from DMK himself was found to be indulging in the drug trafficking
10:32of more than 2000 crore scam.
10:35So if proper action is not taken, if conviction rate of people, those who are involved into
10:44drug trafficking is not properly managed, there is every chance that if this DMK government
10:53is not thrown off, Tamil Nadu may become the drug capital state for ETI.
11:01Okay.
11:02You told about drug related crimes.
11:06Over 63,000 drug related crimes have been filed here.
11:13Is this good policing or big issues?
11:16If it is big issue, what is your plan to reduce the drug related crimes?
11:21One thing is the way we have controlled the Naxal problem, you have to seal the border, work
11:28with the central investigation agencies for controlling the menace, stop your own party
11:36and leaders of DMK to get involved into this stuff, create awareness and ultimately the conviction
11:47is important.
11:48You said more than 63,000 cases have been filed but the conviction rate is very low, less than 20%.
11:57So ultimately you are not convicting people, they are going scot-free after putting some time in the jail
12:05or just a police station and they again go into drug peddling.
12:10So that is the issue.
12:12We have created a strong law and order mechanism in many states.
12:19Where the law and order was an issue, we have to control the coastal line, we have to create awareness
12:27awareness among the people, the synthetic drugs have found their place in Tamil Nadu, ganja is being supplied
12:35to the young people, even at the school door steps, easily, freely drugs are available for young children.
12:45They don't know, they have to be created and regulated and controlled, that is completely failure
12:52because they don't have the will to control this.
12:58There are about 3.5 lakh vacant government jobs.
13:02What is your plan to fill them and what is your immediate plan to youngster's employment in Tamil Nadu?
13:08One thing is the government jobs which are vacant, as is being done at the centre and different states,
13:15the same way we should fill those vacant government jobs and create proper reservation policy also
13:25for those people who need support and then only it can be filled properly.
13:32Fast tracking filling of these jobs is important and economic development is important.
13:39Without economic growth, the employment generation is not possible.
13:45You have to develop fisheries, you have to develop marine industries.
13:50You can, as we do in some states, prepare defence industries, renewable energy industries, automobile industries.
14:02All these industries have to be established.
14:05In this budget 2026, in the central, many schemes have been announced.
14:11Setting up support, central government is giving support to set up sunrise industries like renewable energy,
14:19setting up data centres, setting up heritage centres, developing tourism, creating infrastructure.
14:26So centre has so many schemes, they can align their projects and policies to the centre scheme
14:34and get the benefit of those particular schemes.
14:36Huge fund has been allocated.
14:38Lot of custom and import duty benefits are being given by the centre.
14:43So state should come forward and take benefit.
14:45They grow its economy, strengthen its budget fiscal responsibilities, attract foreign investments,
14:54domestic investment, create an environment of ecosystem where MSME can function freely without any compliance burden
15:03and corruption burden.
15:04So that way, young people will get employment if economy grows, more opportunities come.
15:10Can you please explain, what does double engine government offer that others can do?
15:17No, I think state government, it is not only the question that there has to be aligned government in centre
15:27state,
15:28but state government has to be careful about its policies.
15:35The Stalin government and the DMK government is completely not focusing on what is required for the state
15:43and their focus is not on law and order, their focus is not on controlling drug management,
15:51their focus is not on economic fiscal responsibility, aligning their policies and programmes to the centre.
16:00They are only focus is when the deputy CM says that he wants to eradicate Sanatandar.
16:09They want to create religious divide.
16:12They want to create kinds of language divide.
16:16The strong culture that Tamil Nadu has since long, it has a history of great kings like Raj Rajachola.
16:26They had built more than one lakh temples in Tamil Nadu.
16:30What is the status of those temples?
16:33They are heritage assets of the country.
16:39They are not being preserved.
16:42Issues like Jalakutte, they stand on them, Deep Utsav,
16:49even various religious festivals are not being properly created.
16:56They want to eradicate Sanatandar.
16:58They don't want to preserve the culture,
17:01strong religious and cultural heritage of Tamil Nadu
17:05and propel it further for the benefit of the people.
17:08That's what is required.
17:11You know, in Tamil Nadu, in this selection, there were four corner fights.
17:16The new face Vijay came.
17:18He will attract the youngsters and voters.
17:22Why should they choose NDA instead of Vijay?
17:28I think if you talk about some film actor, his only background is film industry.
17:38But for running a government, you need a lot of organizational skill, experience.
17:47Then resources are also required.
17:51Resources can be, organizational strength is there.
17:55People who can, there is an ideology, there is a philosophy,
18:00there is a clear roadmap on achieving.
18:02That is not there.
18:04You need a state, Tamil Nadu is one of the large state of the country.
18:11It has a good history of propelling India's growth and development.
18:18It has strong culture, tradition, language, art, architecture.
18:24So, it has to have an industrialization more rigorously.
18:32That vision is required.
18:34That strength of leadership is required.
18:37Youth requires employment.
18:40Youth requires financial resources for setting up their industry, etc.
18:47So, that vision is, I think, is only there in NDA.
18:50Under the alliance of NDA, AI, ADMK and BJP and other alliance,
18:58will only be able to give Tamil Nadu its due place in India's growth strategy.
19:07Yes, sir.
19:08The final question is, the BJP leaders, using the word, double-engine circa.
19:14What is the benefits of Tamil peoples, if they choose anti-aligns, the double-engine circa?
19:21I told you, it is not only the question of double-engine, it is the state government aligning its programs
19:29and policies,
19:30and its welfare schemes with the central schemes.
19:34Okay.
19:35If any government aligns its policies and programs with the center,
19:40taking benefit of the programs and schemes which the center announces, the state progress.
19:45Okay.
19:46That is there.
19:46You have to align.
19:47And they are at loggerheads with the center, fighting the center, putting the blame on center,
19:54and not taking care of their own finances.
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