Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami should be given the mandate to rule the State again for declaring the Cauvery delta as protected special agricultural zone and notifying it in the gazette, PMK youth wing leader Anbumani Ramadoss said on Sunday.
Tamil Nadu has got the best Chief Minister in Mr. Edappadi Palaniswami to protect agriculture, he said adding that farmers in the State felt happy under the present regime.
Campaigning at Nannilam in Tiruvarur district and Sozhapuram near Kumbakonam in Thanjavur district, Mr. Anbumani said he was the first to raise the demand for declaring the Cauvery delta region as a protected agricultural zone and the need to enact a law in this connection.
He said he visited various villages emphasising the need to bring in legislation and put forth the demand to the Chief Minister prior to the declaration.
Terming the enactment of the Act as an important decision, Mr. Anbumani said it would protect the delta region, which was feeding the people of the State for thousands of years.
The DMK mortgaged the rights of Tamil Nadu on the Cauvery issue to Karnataka fearing the Sarkaria Commission and betrayed the State, Mr. Anbumani alleged and said the people would never forgive the party.
The DMK remained silent when dams were being constructed in Karnataka, he said and debunked its president Stalin's remarks of retrieving the rights of the Cauvery.
Exhorting the electorate to ignore the DMK, Mr. Anbumani said it was Mr. Stalin who signed a memorandum of agreement for the methane project in the delta region. The DMK had also betrayed the State on the Katchatheevu issue.
Also, it was DMK and Congress which brought NEET, he said adding that Mr. Stalin's statements that his party would oppose NEET must not be believed.
There was greater awareness among the electorate now and the DMK could not fool the people as it had been doing so far. Former Union Minister and DMK propaganda secretary A. Raja's recent derogatory remarks against the Chief Minister’s mother was ample proof that the party did not respect women and motherhood. Mr. Stalin had failed to condemn the derogatory remarks, he further said.
It could not be forgotten that Mr. Palaniswami brought internal reservation envisaging 10.5% quota for Vanniyars in education and employment within the reservation for Most Backward Communities and De-notified Communities.
Mr. Anbumani said just like Vanniyars there were other communities that continued to remain backward and internal reservation should also be given to them separately.