Ready to quit MLA post if TVK govt. reduces Tamil Nadu’s annual borrowing: ex-Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu

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Former Finance Minister and senior DMK leader Thangam Thennarasu on Wednesday (June 17, 2026) predicted that if the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK)-led government completed its five-year term and faced the next Assembly election, the State’s debt would touch ₹20 lakh crore.

Reacting to the White Paper on The Fiscal Management of Tamil Nadu released by the government on Tuesday (June 16), which said the State’s debt had doubled during the previous DMK regime, he challenged the TVK-led government and the Finance Department to bring down the average annual borrowing below the level recorded during the previous five-year tenure.

Click here to read the full document of the financial White Paper released on June 16, 2026

Mr. Thennarasu said if the government implemented what the white paper had described as the “good schemes of the DMK government”; fulfilled its election promises; and achieved fiscal prudence through lower annual borrowing, he would give up all positions (party and Assembly membership).

“It is my challenge to the government,” he said while speaking to reporters at Anna Arivalayam, the DMK headquarters in Chennai.

On the issue of interest payments made by the Tamil Nadu government vis-à-vis the Gujarat government, Mr. Thennarasu said Gujarat was not implementing welfare schemes such as the Magalir Urimai Thogai Scheme, zero ticket bus travel for women, the Chief Minister’s Breakfast Scheme, the Pudhumai Penn Scheme, and pension benefits under the old pension scheme for government employees.

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“Our deficit funding is high because of welfare schemes. There is an allegation that our deficit funding is high and capital expenditure is low. Can expenditure on your promises, such as ₹2,500 financial assistance for women, 200 units of free electricity, six free LPG cylinders and financial assistance for the unemployed, be classifi