Karunanidhi defends previous DMK govt's freebies

CHENNAI: Strongly defending the 'freebies' of erstwhile DMK government, former Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi on Thursday said it did not come at the cost of developmental schemes.

Freebies were not implemented by securing loans meant for developmental schemes, he said in a statement in Chennai, adding in a welfare state, such schemes should not be neglected.

The economic development of a country could not benefit all in initial stages and welfare schemes alone could reduce the disparity between the poor and others, the DMK chief, whose government had distributed rice at Re one per kg besides free colour TVs, said.

AIADMK government's decision to implement free rice scheme and hike amount given under marriage assistance scheme had only endorsed his government's actions. Any government, which neglected welfare schemes, and only implemented developmental schemes would be considered anti-poor, he said.

He denied that implementation of welfare schemes had increased state's debt burden.

"There is nothing new in the government getting loans for the implementation of welfare and developmental schemes. Even the US and European countries were implementing schemes with the assistance of loans," he said.

He said though his government was implementing welfare schemes since 2006, the state had revenue surplus till 2009. The revenue deficit from 2009 was due to reduced tax revenue and implementation of the sixth pay commission recommendations for state government employees, he claimed.