Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami embarked on a three-nation tour on Wednesday in a bid to woo investors to invest in the State.

The Chief Minister, who will be travelling to the UK, the US and Dubai during his two-week sojourn, hit out at MK Stalin for criticising his foreign trip and asked the DMK chief to clarify about his own frequent foreign visits.

Stalin replied that as Deputy Chief Minister earlier, he had travelled abroad and got funds for the Metro Rail project and the Hogenakkal integrated water scheme.

Stalin also found fault with Palaniswami comparing the former’s “private” foreign visits to that of the chief minister’s official one.

Palaniswami, the first State Chief Minister to travel abroad in decades, insisted that “This trip is to seek more investments for Tamil Nadu. I am visiting the US, the UK and Dubai to meet investors to invite them to start new businesses in the State.”

Before leaving for London, his first stop, Palaniswami sought to know if Stalin had ever clarified on his “frequent” overseas trips.

“Mr Stalin frequently goes abroad... why does he go? He says it is for personal reason. What is the personal reason? What is the mystery behind him going to foreign countries often? He has never clarified through the media,” Palaniswami said.

“I am not going for any personal reasons... I am a farmer, have to strive for progress, bring in big industries, ensure jobs for youth and economic growth,” he said.

He said that many investors had suggested to him during the Global Investors Meet (GIM) 2019 here that he should travel abroad to attract more investments.

Reacting to this, Stalin recalled that before GIM 2019, a couple of Ministers had gone abroad to meet investors and said it would have been proper for Palaniswami also to have made such a visit then.

“Have ₹5.42-lakh crore (proposed) investments in the two editions of GIM been realised? Not at all. The announcements regarding investments have become a mere mirage,” Stalin alleged in a statement. The DMK, therefore, has been insisting that the State government release a white paper on this, he said.

The chief minister is scheduled to return on September 10.