DMK insists CM to reveal ‘mystery’ behind trip abroad

He also urged the Chief Minister to honestly allay the doubts lingering in the minds of the state people.

Condemning the CM for comparing his personal and official visits to foreign countries instead of answering the queries raised by a responsible Opposition, Stalin wondered what was wrong in the Opposition questioning the inability of the government to materialise investments promised earlier, when the CM was going on a fortnight-long overseas tour?

Refusing to accept the reasoning of Chief Minister Palaniswami that he was touring overseas to woo investment, the DMK president, in a statement issued in this regard, sought to know if the Rs 5.42 lakh crore promised through the 402 MoUs inked in the two editions of Global Investors Meet (GIM) was realised by Tamil Nadu.

“Was an attempt made to get the investment from the industrialists with whom agreements were signed?” Stalin who is also the president of DMK asked, before questioning why the CM was touring seven months after the second edition of GIM for which Ministers and bureaucrats had visited foreign countries then? Referring to a report related to the CM’s foreign tour, Stalin said, “CM has asked why I was travelling overseas frequently? I had gone on an official visit during my stint as deputy chief minister and got investment for Hogenakkal combined drinking water and Chennai Metro Rail project. We brought investment to a great extent without GIM, overseas tours or wasteful advertisement.”

“People came forward to invest in our tenure owing to transparency and efficiency in management. My personal visits are transparent. It is unbecoming of a Chief Minister to compare a private and personal visit. The comparison is also unfair,” Stalin remarked, adding that the state would not attract any investment no matter how many GIMs they organize or the MoUs they ink due to the failure of rule of law and corruption in the incumbent AIADMK regime.