Had Chief Minister M.K. Stalin compelled the Congress to release Cauvery water from Karnataka as a precondition to taking part in the Bengaluru meeting of the Opposition parties, Karnataka would have released Tamil Nadu’s share, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami said on Tuesday.
In a statement, he recalled that the Aam Aadmi Party had imposed a precondition that it would support the Congress only if the national party revised its decision on the Delhi Services Bill. Incidentally, the AIADMK voted in support of the Delhi Services Bill in Parliament on Monday.
Criticising Mr. Stalin for not imposing such a precondition, he said: “If such a precondition was imposed, Karnataka would have released water to Tamil Nadu and the Cauvery delta farmers would not have undergone such hardship. This is a huge betrayal on the part of the DMK,” he said.
Replying to the strong criticism made by Mr. Stalin against the AIADMK for supporting the Delhi Services Bill, Mr. Palaniswami said: “A person, who thinks his family members should hold posts and his family businesses in Karnataka should not be affected, has no right to criticise the AIADMK”.
He further said that the AIADMK would never give up the State’s rights under any circumstances and would never be an opportunist like the DMK. “Mr. Stalin, who is not finding solution for the issues that the people of Tamil Nadu are facing, is talking about issues in other States only to project himself as a national leader.”
