Chennai: Lashing out at the NDA government over the GDP growth, the DMK on Wednesday alleged issues like the arrest of senior Congress leader P Chidambaram and Kashmir were being used by it to hide the ‘alarming’ economic slowdown.
The economic growth slumped to 5 per cent in the three months ended June and it is alarming. Such a trend of a pretty weak GDP growth was unseen in the last 27 years, DMK president M K Stalin said. A day after Chidambaram took a dig at the government over the slump in GDP, Stalin claimed despite such a scenario, news related to it could not be seen in print or visual media, adding “a plan is on to hide it (the economic scenario).”
Social media was, however, full of stories on the economic slowdown, he said. “In order to hide it, Chidambaram’s arrest and Kashmir problem are being used by them (the Centre),” he said addressing at a wedding event here. On Tuesday, after he stepped out of a Delhi courtroom, Chidambaram, when asked what he had to say about his CBI custody, quipped, “Five per cent. Do you know what is five per cent.” He also raised his hand to show five fingers as the CBI personnel took him away. Chidambaram is under CBI custody in the INX Media corruption case.
India’s economic growth has slumped for the fifth straight quarter to an over six-year low of 5 per cent in the three months ended June as consumer demand and private investment slowed amid deteriorating global environment. Having lost the tag of the world’s fastest-growing economy earlier this year, India’s GDP growth was behind China’s 6.2 per cent in April-June, its weakest pace in at least 27 years.
On the foreign tour of Tamilnadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami along with some of his cabinet colleagues, Stalin took potshots at the government saying, “the Cabinet has changed into a touring Cabinet.” Referring to the two editions of Global Investors Meet (2015, 2019) held here by the AIADMK government, he reiterated his demand for a white paper on the investments vis-a-vis number of jobs created.
His demand remained not fulfilled by the government and under such circumstances, Palaniswami and his Cabinet colleagues have gone on a tour, he said. On US firms committing over Rs 2,700 crore investments during Palaniswami’s ongoing visit, he said, “these are in the stage of announcements alone and you should ponder if these (proposed projects) could be expeditiously implemented.” Palaniswami embarked on a three-nation tour, including the UK and US, on 28 August to attract investments to the State and is set to return on 10 September.