Stalin should negotiate with Karnataka to secure 86.380 TMC Cauvery water for TN, says AIADMK

PTI, Aug 5, 2023, 4:16 PM IST

The opposition AIADMK on Saturday demanded Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin to negotiate with his Karnataka counterpart and secure 86.380 TMC Cauvery water due for the state. Accusing the Congress government of creating a problem for Tamil Nadu’s farmers, AIADMK general secretary K Palaniswami said the Chief Minister should hold parleys with his counterpart Siddaramaiah and deputy chief Minister D K Shivakumar and obtain the Cauvery water.

”Currently, the reservoirs in Karnataka have a storage of about 80 percent. Stalin should visit Bengaluru and hold talks with Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, who are part of his alliance, and obtain 86.360 TMC water due for June, July and this August and save the Kuruvai paddy crop raised on 3.5 lakh acres which is on the verge of wilting,” Palaniswami said in a statement here.

He said the Cauvery water issue resurfaced after DMK’s ally, the Congress, came to power in Karnataka. The AIADMK had since the era of later Chief Ministers: M G Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa and even when he was CM, safeguarded the interests of the state, Palaniswami said and recalled the hard-won legal battle leading to Tamil Nadu obtaining its due share from the Cauvery water.

Taking exception to the DMK government for dashing off a missive to the Centre seeking its intervention to obtain the Cauvery water from the neighbouring state, Palaniswami said whenever he wrote a letter to the Prime Minister, in his capacity as Chief Minister, Stalin ridiculed it.

”But, he is writing letters on this issue. What’s the mystery behind his letters to the Prime Minister and Central Ministers? Is he prostrating before them?” Palaniswami asked.

It was reprehensible that Stalin wrote to the Central government instead of exercising Tamil Nadu’s rights. Karnataka, the former Chief Minister said, was duty bound to implement the Supreme Court order on releasing the water to Tamil Nadu.

”It is also the duty and responsibility of the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister to rebuke his ally and ensure it released the water,” Palaniswami said in the statement. Claiming that media reports indicated that Karnataka Deputy CM ordered a land survey to construct the Mekedatu dam across the Cauvery river, the AIADMK general secretary called upon the DMK government to take steps to immediately stop the work and prevent Tamil Nadu from turning into a desert.