Chennai, April 18 - It was a thundering Thursday in Tamil Nadu with political leaders carrying out no holds barred oral fights on the election arena.

Retaliating to BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi's constant jibe at him as "recounting minister", union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, who is not contesting himself and has fielded his son in the election, termed Modi an "encounter minister" referring to the alleged staged killings by police in Gujarat.

Chidambaram said Modi is a compulsive liar as there was no recounting done in 2009 elections in his Sivaganga constituency. Amidst the controversial vote count, Chidambaram was declared elected in 2009 polls.

Meanwhile, Modi, who is on a two day Tamil Nadu election tour, came down heavily on the ruling AIADMK and DMK during an election rally at Kanyakumari.

He said unless the state is freed from these two parties, the interests of the people would not be served.

On Wednesday too, he criticised the two Dravidian parties as more interested in wielding power and not providing electricity to the people.

On Sunday he had charged the AIADMK and DMK for taking people for granted and not bothering about their welfare.

In response, an angry Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa addressing a rally in Krishnagiri Thursday debunked Gujarat's growth story as a marketing hype and myth.

Jayalalithaa, also the AIADMK chief, cited various comparative statistics -- social as well as industrial investment -- and said Tamil Nadu is ahead of the western state on all counts.

"Gujarat was focussed on advertising itself whereas my government in Tamil Nadu laid stress on working for the welfare of its people," she said.

Jayalalithaa said Tamil Nadu pipped Gujarat in attracting foreign direct investment during 2012-13 and in software exports.

She said only 11.3 percent of the Tamil Nadu's population was under the poverty line against 16.6 percent in Gujarat.

Jayalalithaa said only 21 children die in 1,000 before attaining one year in Tamil Nadu whereas the figure for Gujarat is 38.(IANS)