Bengaluru: Former Chief Minister and state JD(S) chief H.D. Kumaraswamy believes the state is unlikely to get any justice either in the Supreme Court or at the meeting of the Cauvery Water Supervisory Committee in its dispute with Tamil Nadu over the Cauvery water unless it takes a few steps to safeguard its interests.
“We have seen how the courts have treated Karnataka in the past. They have humiliated Mr Fali Nariman and say that we cannot even protest. How is Karnataka expected to fight for its rights?” he demanded, speaking to reporters here.
Noting that the Special Leave Petition, pending almost for 10 years, would come up before the same judges hearing the present case, on October 16, he argued that Mr Uday U. Lalith, who was personal counsel to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in the past, should have reclused himself from hearing the matter. “Since he has not done this, the state must seek change of bench,” he suggested.
“Why did the Cauvery Water Supervisory Committee postpone its meeting? Its chairman, Shashi Shekhar is a Tamil Nadu cadre officer. What is Union Minister, Ananth Kumar doing about this? BJP leaders are accusing the Janata Dal (Secular) leaders of politicising the issue, but what are they doing to help the state?” he asked.
Accusing the Siddaramaiah government of shoddy handling of the issue, Mr Kumaraswamy claimed it did not even have proper information on the storage in its reservoirs or on release of water to Tamil Nadu.
“At the August 27 meeting, when I asked the government about water storage in four reservoirs, it said around 27-28 tmcft had been released to Tamil Nadu. When I checked with the officials at the reservoirs, they told me that around 43 tmcft of water had already been released to it,” he said.
