Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government has rebuffed assertions made by TN BJP President Annamalai regarding the Chief Minister’s Village Road Improvement Scheme, clarifying that it is solely a state-funded initiative.
The state fact-checking agency emphasised that the CM Village Road Improvement scheme is entirely financed by the state, in contrast to the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, which is a joint scheme with 60% funding from the Union government and 40% from the state.
In response to Annamalai’s remarks characterising the scheme as a Union government initiative, Thangam Thennarasu denounced what he termed as “false propaganda” by the BJP. Thennarasu criticized the alleged preferential treatment of BJP-ruled states by the Union government in fund allocation, citing it as a contributing factor to Tamil Nadu’s escalating debt and deficit.
Annamalai’s assertion that the Pradhan Mantri Grama Sadak Yojana had been renamed as the Chief Minister’s Village Road Development Plan by the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government was also met with opposition from the state’s fact-checking committee. The committee refuted claims made by Annamalai and Vanathi Srinivasan, asserting that projects outlined in the Tamil Nadu government’s budget had not been renamed after central government initiatives. They urged the public not to propagate misinformation, posting clarifications on social media platforms.
In response to these developments, Annamalai reiterated his stance, advocating for the efficient implementation of welfare schemes initiated by the Central Government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He insinuated that the purported renaming of projects by the DMK government was an attempt to disguise their origin, implying a lack of transparency or intent to divert credit from the central government.