Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, on Sunday, blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not giving an appointment to an all-party delegation from the State to discuss some vital issues.
“I have recently convened an all-party meeting. I want to take an all-party delegation to the Prime Minister and discuss crucial issues like Mekedatu, Mahadayi, Upper Krishna and Cauvery apart from drought. But, the Prime Minister is not giving his date. There are 25 BJP Lok Sabha members from the State and none is ready to raise the issue before the Prime Minister,” Mr. Siddaramaiah said in a media conference at Aiwan-e-Shahi Guest House in Kalaburagi on Sunday.
The Chief Minister was in Kalaburagi to participate in Kalyana Karnataka Utsav and hoist the national flag to mark the integration of the Kalyana Karnataka region in the Indian Union after the Annexation of Hyderabad in 1948.
When asked about the Cauvery Water Monitoring Authority (CWMA) order to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu, Mr. Siddaramaiah pleaded helplessness by stating that there was not enough water in the reservoirs in the Cauvery basin.
“In a normal year, we need to release 177.25 tmcft of water to Tamil Nadu. By this time, we were supposed to release 99 tmcft of water. Owing to the scarcity of water, we have released only 37.7 tmcft. Cauvery Water Monitoring Authority ordered the release of 5000 cusecs for the next 15 days. But, we are not releasing. When the Supreme Court objected to noncompliance with the CWMA order, we released a little bit of water. We are moving the Supreme Court to challenge the order of CWMA. There is only 53 tmcft of water in the reservoirs in the Cauvery basin. We need 106 tmcft of water – 33 tmcft for drinking purposes, 70 tmcft for saving the standing crops and 3 tmcft for industries,” Mr. Siddaramaiah said adding that BJP and its leader B.S. Yediyurappa were politicizing the issue.
When asked about his cabinet colleague K.N. Rajanna’s proposal to float three more Deputy Chief Ministers’ posts, Mr. Siddaramaiah said that he would not have any problem if the high command agreed with it.
“He [Mr. Rajanna] wanted to raise the issue with the high command. It is the high command that will take a final call. I don’t have any problem if high command okays it. I will obey whatever the high command decides,” Mr. Siddaramaiah said.
To a question, the Chief Minister said that he would consider the demand for establishing a separate engineering wing for implementing the development works taken up by the Kalyana Karnataka Region Development Board.
