Chennai: The opposition to the BJP government at the centre and the AIADMK regime in the state is likely to get a boost as the principal opposition party DMK has planned to bring the parties opposed to both the ruling parties together on the plank of the woes faced by the farmers. Parties and farmers' representatives in Tamil Nadu are up in arms against the Union government after it opposed the Supreme Court verdict to form the Cauvery Management Board and openly supported the stand of Karnataka in the apex court. Farmers' bodies in Tamil Nadu are demanding the formation of the CMB, besides waiver of crop loans by nationalised banks and drought relief for the state.
The plight of the farmers has moved to the centre stage of politics as the protest by a section of Tamil Nadu farmers in Delhi entered the 31st day. Besides, the coordinator of farmers associations in the state, P.R. Pandian announced a rail roko on April 25 against the Centre’s move to dissolve the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal and form a common board for all the river water rows in the country. Pandian, who announced the agitation, said the dissolution of Cauvery tribunal would also nullify the tribunal's final verdict quantifying the amount of water to be released to Tamil Nadu by Karnataka every month and the struggle for getting justice in the Cauvery dispute would have to be started from the beginning.
Charging both the parties ruling at the Centre and in the state with not finding a solution to the farmers' problems, Leader of Opposition M.K. Stalin on Friday said both the factions of AIADMK and BJP would not be invited to the all-party meeting convened by him on April 16. Answering a question, he denied that it was a meeting aimed at bringing a change of regime in the state and added that it was for the well being of farmers.
All the other opposition parties - PMK, MDMK, VCK, CPM and CPM - have been invited for the meeting by the DMK. The functionaries of DMK were sent to the offices of various political parties to submit the invitations. As expected, the CPI and VCK announced that they would take part in the DMK's all-party meeting. But, PMK founder S.Ramadoss, who was invited for the DMK's all-party meeting, asked the State government to hold an all-party meeting. The stand of MDMK which is critical of the DMK on the Cauvery issue is not known. Responding to the invitation, CPM state secretary G.Ramakrishnan said the party would discuss the issue and take a decision.
