The AIADMK government is unlikely to heed DMK president M. K. Stalin’s demand for a fresh budget in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, Ministers have been asked to rework the variable expenditure in their respective departments by at least 25%.

“We have all been told to reduce variable expenditure by 25% in our respective departments. All this can be done within the existing framework,” Tamil Development Minister ‘Ma Foi’ K. Pandiarajan, who initially represented the State in the deliberations of GST Council, told The Hindu.

Terming Mr. Stalin’s demand “political”, the Minister wondered if there was any need for presenting a fresh budget under the given circumstances. He pointed out that all his colleagues were re-working the original allocations.

In times of a disaster, such as the present one, the government of the day had the authority to spend within its means and borrow within the limits fixed by the Central government, the Minister contended. But, by demanding a new budget, Mr. Stalin was seeking to shift the onus onto the legislature with all its attendant issues, he added.

“Asking for transparency in expenditure and income is fair, which we will be able to present before the legislature as early as possible even though not necessarily at this point of time,” Mr. Pandiarajan felt.

Last week, the DMK leader sought a fresh budget on the premise that all the budgetary estimates and allocations of the State government, prepared prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, had been rendered irrelevant subsequently. He also referred to the State government’s estimated net outstanding debt of around ₹4.56 lakh crore by March 2021.

Durai Murugan, Deputy Leader of Opposition and Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, described Mr. Stalin’s demand as one representing a new thinking in the field of State finances.

According to him, when the government incurs expenditure, which is of the magnitude of the total allocation made in a full-year budget, it is but “fair and appropriate” on its part to present a new budget before the Assembly.

As for the point that any additional expenditure could be covered through supplementary estimates, Mr. Durai Murugan, cited a host of government announcements as its response to the pandemic. The rationale behind the presentation of supplementaries to the House is to cover any shortfall in expenditure of any project or scheme and not for an expenditure of this nature and size, the former Minister observed.

C.K. Thamilarasan, a four-time former legislator, of Indiya Kudiyarasu Katchi, however, said the government’s priority should be to attend to the immediate problems of the people.

The authorities should also be conscious that the plight of Scheduled Castes is much worse than that of others under the given circumstances.

“Anyhow, the government will have to come to the Assembly for approval. At that time, you can also question them [the government] for all their acts of commission and omission,” he added.