Bengaluru: In view of the unrest in the Cauvery basin, the time is not ripe for direct talks between the chief ministers of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to resolve the century-old row over sharing river water, said KPCC Working President Dinesh Gundu Rao.
Talking to reporters here on Thursday, he said there were instances of chief ministers of both states calling on each other with a view to find an amicable solution. But, now it was not possible now since the TN Chief Minister has moved court seeking a direction to Karnataka to release water to her state resulting in unrest in Karnataka.
Reiterating the need for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention to resolve the issue, he said the PM was more busy tweeting rather than responding to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's appeal to convene a meeting of all states concerned to find an amicable solution.
So far, the CM has written eight letters to the prime minister for which there has been no response let alone acknowledging the receipt of letters. This has given a feeling to all concerned that Mr Modi was judiciously pursuing the agenda of making the country 'Congress mukt' by not coming to the aid of Congress ruled Karnataka. It was not a healthy sign on the part of the PM to be biased towards a non-BJP ruled state, he said.
Taking on BJP leaders for politicising this issue, Mr Dinesh said they had been contending that the prime minister did not have any role to play. However, there is a clause in the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal rules that there is scope for mediation in case any state is unhappy over the verdict.
The chief ministers of Tamil Nadu, Kerala or Puducuerry would only attend the meeting convened by the prime minister and not anyone else. This exercise was aimed at an out-of-court settlement than waiting for the Supreme Court to dispose petitions filed by Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
“I did not know Why BJP ministers and MPs are against involving the PM in this issue. Are they afraid of incurring the wrath of their party high command”, he wondered.
Mr Dinesh said the SC verdict on September 5 and 12 on the modification petition filed by Karnataka was a big blow to the State and people were concerned about the ruling to be given by Cauvery Supervisory Committee meeting on September 19 and the apex court's hearing on September 20.
The state would be in real trouble if the SC asks Karnataka to release more water to TN in accordance with the formula suggested by the tribunal. In this hour of distress, the only hope was convening a meeting of all four CMs to work out a solution acceptable to all, he said.
