K. Annamalai, former Tamil Nadu BJP president, said the State has no plan for new jobs. On February 17, 2026, he told the media the Interim Budget showed the debt-to-GDP ratio is not falling. The state's debt in 2025-26 hit ₹9.29 lakh crore and is expected to rise to ₹10.62 lakh crore next year. Tamil Nadu will borrow ₹1.33 lakh crore in one year. He pointed out a ₹21,871 crore shortfall in revenue. The budget predicted ₹3.31 lakh crore, but only ₹3.09 lakh crore was realized. "This is a government that does not generate revenue and spends by borrowing," he said. Higher education enrolment dropped from 49% to 47% since DMK took power four years ago. The department's budget rose by just ₹11 crore, but ₹1,380 crore is set for Anna University renovation. The rural job scheme budget has been cut. Only 23,879 applied for the 'Kalaignar Kaivinai Thittam'. The Central government's Vishwakarma scheme saw eight lakh Tamil Nadu registrations, but the state does not run it. The DMK claimed to spend ₹8,100 crore on temple repairs but only spent about ₹82 crore. Annamalai called for a white paper on this. Agriculture growth was only 3%, while Gujarat saw 10% CAGR under PM Modi, he said. The Central PLI scheme supports electronics clusters, but the DMK failed to launch any job creation program. "The DMK government has not implemented any scheme to generate jobs in Tamil Nadu," he concluded.