Tamil Nadu’s Industries Minister T.R.B. Rajaa on Monday accused Leader of Opposition Edappadi K. Palaniswami of lacking ‘understanding of the numbers from his own regime’.

Making a reference to an article authored by Mr. Palaniswami, Mr. Rajaa said, it showcasesd his ‘inability to comprehend industry and investments by scrutinising the MOUs signed at the Global Investors Meet (GIM) conducted in January 2024 using data from the 2023-2024 financial year’.

In a statement, Mr. Rajaa said that while Tamil Nadu had 5,091 high-tension industrial electricity connections in the DMK regime between 2006-2011, AIADMK could only manage to grow that number to 6,777 between 2011-2021.

“In just the last four years till May 2025, the number has jumped to 8,039 connections, at an average of 315 connections per year, which is nearly double of what the AIADMK could do in 10 years. This is the most direct proof of real industrial grounding in this government,” he said.

Mr. Rajaa further said that a ‘staggering 80.4% of investors who signed MoUs worth ₹5,087 crore’ during Mr. Palaniswami’s visit to the United States of America as Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister dropped out soon and out of 5 MoUs worth ₹3,750 signed in the UAE, three are dead, and one started production and another started partial production after the intervention of the current regime.

“At GIM 2019, 304 MoUs worth 2,68,296 were signed and even after our intervention to salvage and convert as many as possibile, the investment today stands at a mere 36% - that’s a failure rate of 64%. Most of his MoUs were weak, signed only for show and hence they are dead. Our numbers speak for themselves,” he said.