Will never give up fight for Cauvery rights: Tamil Nadu CM Palaniswami

TIRUVARUR: While asserting his government would never give up fighting for the State’s rights to the Cauvery, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Saturday slammed DMK leader M K Stalin for using “unparliamentary language” while referring to him. “Despite being an opposition leader and former deputy chief minister, Stalin does not know how to address the CM. He is using unparliamentary words. He has lost his mental balance... Karunanidhi brought his son Stalin and Stalin is trying to bring his son to politics now,” the chief minister said here addressing an AIADMK public meeting. 

“We will struggle as much as possible. We will do all the sacrifices for Cauvery water...When the Union government failed to adhere to the order, we filed a contempt petition,” he said.“AIADMK leader MGR was the first one who asked for a board to share the Cauvery water. Likewise, our late leader J Jayalalithaa had initiated legal proceedings to get the water. She had even observed an 80-hour hunger strike for retrieving the rights of Tamil Nadu to the river water. It’s thanks to the legal steps taken by Jayalalithaa that the Union government published the final verdict of the Cauvery tribunal in the gazette, something that Karunanidhi failed to do,” he added. 

Earlier during his stay in Salem, the Chief Minister distributed cash awards worth of Rs 20.85 lakh to best sericulture farmers at an exhibition cum conference on sericulture organised by the Sericulture Department and district administration at Azhakapuram Central Co-operative Bank on Friday. 

Palaniswami claimed that because of the steps taken by his government, the State stood third in the country in silk production.

While at Needamangalam, Palaniswami won hearts by picking up the bag of an elderly woman, who accidentally dropped it while shaking her hand with him. The Chief Minister promptly bent down to pick up the bag for her even before his security personnel could.