AIADMK could corner the government over employees' demand to restore old pension scheme
Chennai: Two statements, one issued by the Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) president Vijay and the other by the Tamil Nadu Government Employees Association on Thursday came as a harbinger for a tumultuous Budget session, expected to be convened towards the end of this month, as the opposition parties are said to be waiting to put the government on the mat on varied issues.
Though the TVK has no representation in the Assembly, the party’s bone of contention is the State government's refusal to hold a caste survey and insisting on a caste census by the Union Government is shared by other parties like the PMK that could take up the issue on the floor of the House.
Similarly, the government employees, who are demanding the restoration of the old pension scheme that was in force before April, 2003, could find an eager supporter in the main opposition party, the AIADMK, which is just looking for an opportunity to take on the government.
In fact, the AIADMK is planning for a concerted attack, raising a plethora of issues like deterioration of law and order, particularly with reference to a slew of sexual harassment cases, and might find the pension scheme handy to target the government.
The BJP might use the Thiruparankundram controversy that the party successfully managed to ignite and also stoke the flames by organizing a massive gathering in Madurai the other day, triggering a wide range of debates and discussions on television channels and social media to attack the government.
While the parties might wait for the presentation of the Budget for 2025-26 to pick on the government with many financial and other grievances, some of the common issues that they might raise could rock the House even if permission was denied to the opposition members to rake up whatever that would not make the government comfortable.
If the PMK manages to raise the caste survey issue since the TVK has already brought it to the public domain by linking it to social justice and accusing the DMK of not going for the survey that many other States had carried out, the government may not have ready-made replies to scuttle in.
Similarly the refusal of the government to agree for the old pension scheme for its employees can cause a lot of embarrassment as the association had pointed out that the DMK manifesto for the 2021 elections (item no 309) specifically promised to implement the old pension scheme that the government had abandoned.
The latest announcement for the setting up of a committee to study three schemes – the old scheme that the association wants, the contributory scheme and the integrated scheme – is a clear indicator of the government not in a mood to honour its poll promise by find an alternative way out, which could come handy for the AIADMK to oppose the government.
The AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palniswami has already called for agitation on Saturday against the rape of a school girl by three teachers in Krishnagiri district and the burgeoning incidents of sexual assaults in the State. So that will be an issue for him to be raised in the Assembly, too.
For the ruling party that would be preparing its last budget by incorporating popular schemes, the opposition parties could turn out to be a thorn in the flesh with their own complaints and wails.
