Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy’s much-anticipated all-party meeting on the Cauvery dispute ended with him deciding to move the Supreme Court against the Centre’s recent notification on Cauvery water management authority.
Addressing the media after the afternoon meeting on Saturday, senior Congress leader and Water Resources Minister DK Shivakumar said, “SC's judgment was not in best interest of the state. We're appealing against it. Earlier, we had decided we won't send any representative to any committee meeting but now we cannot take any risk. We don't want them to make any decision without us.”
He added, "Our Parliament members have been requested and they have agreed in one voice, cutting across party lines, to raise the issue in Parliament."
CM Kumaraswamy had earlier not taken too kindly to the Centre’s “unilateral” decision in forming the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) and the Cauvery Water Management Authority as it “hurts” the interests of Karnataka.
The chief minister said on Saturday, “Karnataka will always abide by constitutional decisions. We've always respected the Supreme Court and its directions. There are 2-3 issues where the schemes were formulated unscientifically, for which we will fight.”
As per the Scheme laid down by the Supreme Court, the Committee will be assisting the Cauvery Management Authority (CAMA) in addressing the water-sharing dispute between, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Pudducherry and Kerela. Saturday’s meeting announced that Karnataka will now send two representatives to present the state’s agenda at the meeting that will be conveyed on July 2.
The meeting was also attended by Deputy Chief Minister G Parmeshwara, Water Resources Minister DK Shivakumar, as well as senior BJP leader BS Yeddyruppa. Also in attendance were parliamentarians from across party lines such as Sadananda Gowda, Anant Kumar, Pratap Simha, Veerappa Moily along with legal experts.
Saturday’s decision comes just days after Kumaraswamy appointed two bureaucrats to the management board after he initially refused to comply. The Centre had constituted the board without any representatives from Karnataka while Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry had sent their representatives.
The all-party meeting on the Cauvery issue decided that the two senior officials would participate in the July 2 meeting to present Karnataka's views.
"The Karnataka government has always opposed the scheme. Even after the CM went and met with PM Modi and Nitin Gadkari Ji stating that the scheme should not be brought in place with such an urgency, they have gone ahead with it. Now we want to appraise our MPs to take this up on the floor of the house. We are united across party lines on this issue," Shivakumar added.
Despite the state's reservation, the Centre had already notified and constituted regulatory committee and authority. The Centre had on June 22 constituted a nine-member Cauvery Water Management Authority and Cauvery Water Regulation Committee.
The state has been opposing any move to form the Authority and had instead suggested formation of Cauvery Decision Implementation Committee.
While the Cauvery issue might have brought the government and opposition on the same page, the growing friction within the government was even evident on Saturday as many eyebrows were raised on Siddaraiamah’s absence at the meeting.
When Shivakumar was asked about his party colleague’s absence, he downplayed the matter, saying, "He has been occupied with various issues. Yesterday he conveyed to us that he wouldn't be coming, but all of us others are here."
Siddaramaiah's absence comes days after videos of him expressing doubts about the longevity of the JDS-Congress coalition government and also his displeasure towards Kumaraswamy presenting a full Budget went viral.
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