Kannada Chaluvali leader and former MLA Vatal Nagaraj has called for greater unity among political parties on the Cauvery issue and threatened to block the State border with the neighbouring State.
Addressing media persons in the city on Sunday Mr. Nagaraj said that Tamil Nadu should have approached Karnataka for talks to discuss the distress situation and reach an amicable solution instead of approaching the Supreme Court.
‘’This is nothing but political intimidation and the State should take all steps to make its position clear before the court’’, he added. Mr. Nagaraj also threatened to block the screening of all Tamil movies in State besides blocking the inter-State border if the ‘’intimidation’’ continued.
Mr. Nagaraj said the ‘’politicisation’’ of Cauvery issue was unhealthy and blamed Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin for it. He also flayed Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and said that he had mellowed down and was not his usual self during his second tenure as the Chief Minister. ‘’It is not the Siddaramaiah we knew. Earlier, he used to roar like a tiger, now he is like a parrot’’, he added.
Taking exception to the State releasing water to Tamil Nadu Mr. Vatal Nagaraj said that at this rate the dams will empty and there will be a drinking water crisis. He also dared Tamil Nadu to come out with a white paper on how much water has been utilised and the extent of area brought under agriculture.
Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar came under attack and Mr. Nagaraj reminded him of the padayatra he held in support of the Mekedatu project and wanted to know its progress. The State government also came under attack for holding an all-party meeting after releasing water from the reservoirs.
