Amid attack by the opposition Janata Dal (Secular) and BJP over the release of Cauvery river water to Tamil Nadu, the Congress government in Karnataka has convened an all-party meeting on August 23.
Announcing the details of the meeting, Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, who holds the Water Resources portfolio, told reporters here on Sunday: “We have convened the all party meeting to discuss on the inter-State river disputes on Cauvery and Mahadayi. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will chair the meeting to be held in Vidhan Soudha at 11 a.m on Wednesday. Some members of parliament have also been invited. Several issues pertaining to the matter will be discussed.” He said: “It is our duty to protect the State because farmers of Karnataka are in distress. Rainfall has not been good.”
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The announcement comes after the former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, who had slammed the government for releasing the Cauvery water, had earlier last week urged the government to convene the all party meeting. After the State government started release of Cauvery water following a direction from Cauvery Water Management Authority to Karnataka to release 10,000 cusecs daily for 15 days, the opposition had charged the Congress government of releasing the water to help DMK, an ally in the newly formed opposition block I.N.D.I.A.
He said: “Ultimately, we want to respect all. There is a hearing tomorrow. We are cautious about it. Our friends in BJP and Janata Dal (Secular) are politicising the matter. They do not know. I do not want to politicise the issue.”
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On Sunday, Mr. Shivakumar said that the State Government had already written to the authority to reconsider its direction in the light of decreased inflow into the reservoirs. “All reservoirs have reported a decrease in inflow. This is also true in Krishna basin reservoirs.” He also said that the State government has also directed the legal team to appeal against the authority’s direction, and that the legal team, including the advocate general were working on it.
