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The recently elected minority Government in
Tamil Nadu
(TN) that came to power promising largesse to the population, has
approached the Federal Government for more money to fund their electioneering
policies.
The Dravida
Munnetra Kazhagam leader and TN Chief Minister M.K. Karunanidhi is
traveling to New Delhi seeking help to subsidize rice at Rs. 2 per kilogram,
a color television for below the poverty line population and a grand waiver
of cooperative loan to farmers costing USD 1.5 billion. In the rice idea, he
has the support of the communist parties.
Finance Minister P. Chidambaram who participated in the same election
campaign along with Karunanidhi had been cagey about whether such largesse
can be funded. Dodging direct questions, he said that it can be done but
needs to be done within the budgetary allocations for the state. Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh who also campaigned for Karunanidhi also said that
this can be done and that his Government will support Karunanidhi’s programs.
With a large and
increasing revenue deficit, increased unplanned expenditure, and lack of
movement on planned expenditure, it is not clear how the Federal Government
will handle this request. A unnamed TN official was quoted saying “When the
Center (Federal Government) has worked out special packages for some other
States, we see no reason for not being able to get one for Tamil Nadu.”
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