Sunday, August 7 2005 15:46 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Chennai: The DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) today (Aug 07, 2005) demanded the AIADMK (Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) Government to release a white paper on the 'stagnation and declining trend of state economy' to enlighten the public on the real state of affairs on the economic front.

Repudiating Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's claims that she had taken a number of steps to achieve an equitable growth in the state, DMK President M Karunanidhi said in a statement that all her utterances were contrary to the truth and 'based on the bunch of partial statistics prepared and put up by her officials'.

The economic growth did not happen all of a sudden. It depended on the changes taking place over a period of time in the growth of a number of sectors, he said.

'Jayalalithaa's statement that only due to her efforts in a four year period all the factors of the economic growth have been switched over to growth track is not true', he said.

The tireless and ceaseless efforts taken by the DMK Government had only put the state on par with the developed states, he said.

Agricultural sector, industrial sector and services sector firmed up the economic growth and social advancement in any state, but Jayalalithaa's statement that the changes happened because of her efforts was like 'concealing a whole pumpkin in a plate of rice', he said.

As far as per capita income was concerned, Tamil Nadu was in the fourth place during the DMK rule. The state fell to seventh place during the AIADMK rule. The growth of per capital income which was 6.59 per cent in 2000-2001 had down to minus point eight per cent in 2002-2003. The agricultural production had also gone down, he said.