Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday accused the Opposition parties of politicising the Cauvery dispute for their electoral gains.
Responding to reporters queries on the Bengaluru bandh at Mysuru airport on Tuesday, Mr. Siddaramaiah said it was most unfortunate that the Opposition parties were politicising the Cauvery dispute.
He described the support of the Opposition parties to the bandh as part of their “politics”. “It is not out of concern for the people or the State”, he said before claiming that politicising the Cauvery issue was not in the interest of the State.
Though people have a right to protest in democracy and the State Government had not opposed the bandh, Mr. Siddaramaiah said the court had imposed certain restrictions. “When we exercise our fundamental rights, you should not affect the fundamental rights of others”, he said. Hence, to ensure that the protestors do not take the law into their hands, the authorities have decided to impose prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC, he said.
Mr. Siddaramaiah referred to the letter written by former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda seeking Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention in the Cauvery water sharing dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and said though he welcomed the letter, Mr. Gowda’s charge of “failure” by the State Government was “politics”.
In the absence of a distress formula, there is a need for a settlement between the two States for which the intervention of the Prime Minister is necessary, Mr Siddaramaiah said.
The State has been bringing pressure on the Supreme Court and the Tribunal for a distress formula. “Whenever there is no rain, there is distress in both the States. Then, we have to share the distress”, he said.
Mr Siddaramaiah brought up the issue of Mekedatu reservoir again. The proposed reservoir will have a capacity to store 67 tmc feet of water. “Whenever it rains, we can store water in the reservoir and release it to Tamil Nadu. It will help both the States”, he said.
Mr Siddaramaiah also rejected the charge of the Opposition that the State Government has not argued Karnataka’s case properly before the Central forums on sharing of Cauvery water. The same legal team that represented the previous BJP and JD (S) Government has been continued by the present Government also, he said claiming that the legal team had argued Karnataka’s case efficiently.
Mr. Siddaramaiah said he had written to the Centre to send an expert team to study the ground situation in Karnataka, but had not received any response so far. Mr Gowda too has written a letter seeking an expert team, said the Chief Minister while expressing hope of a positive response from the Centre in view of the “new friendship” between JD (S) and BJP.
To a question drought relief, Mr Siddaramaiah said Minister for Revenue Krishna Byre Gowda will shortly be making a trip to New Delhi to meet Union Ministers for Home and Agriculture. “We will await their response on drought relief”, he said.
