Coimbatore, Apr 7 (PTI) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami Sunday said DMK president M K Stalin was not qualified to speak on the Cauvery issue since the party had failed to notify the final award of the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal in the gazette.

Also, he said the DMK had not fulfilled any of the promises it had made during the last assembly elections.

Palaniswami made the allegations while campaigning for M Thambidurai contesting from Karur and alliance party candidate PMK nominee S Jothimuthu from Dindigul.

"It was only the government of amma, as Jayalalithaa was fondly addressed, which solved the Cauvery issue raging for decades. The DMK does not have the right to talk about it," he said.

Palaniswami criticised Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram for not allotting sufficient funds to Tamil Nadu.

Had he allotted funds, several farmer-friendly schemes would have been implemented, the chief minister said.

He said the Congress and the DMK remember the people only during elections and condemned the latter's manifesto for confusing the people to gain votes.

Noting that farmers living in and around Karur and Dindigul were into cultivation of fruits and vegetables on a large-scale, he said steps would be taken up to set up a Rs 70-crore mega food park on a 10-acre land at Tharangambadi in Nagapattinam district to store the farm produce.

"At this park, the produce will be sourced directly from the farmers who can store it free of cost," he added.

Canvassing votes for AIADMK candidate C Mahendran at various places in the district, Palaniswami said accused political parties, particularly DMK of resorting to "cheap politics" over the incidents of sexual harassment of girl students in Pollachi.

Some parties were trying to derive political mileage out of the incidents, he said and described them as 'political traders.

The state government would ensure that the culprits are brought to book.

Referring to the comments made by MK Stalin no the need for a strict legislation to protect women, the Chief Minister said late J Jayalalithaa had enacted such a law in 2012 itself.

Noting that the state government was committed to providing security to minority communities and had allotted Rs 6 crore for Haj pilgrimage, when the subsidy was scrapped by the Centre.

On the Triple Talaq bill, he said AIADMK had opposed it in the Lok Sabha.

Palaniswami also addressed a meeting in Ukkadam seeking votes for BJP candidate, C P Radhakrishnan.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)