Bengaluru: Former chief minister, S.M. Krishna, otherwise sober in his words and actions, seemed agitated over the Supreme Court's ruling on releasing Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu.
Terming Tuesday's verdict as "perverse" Mr Krishna urged the state government to appeal before a higher constitutional bench. Speaking to reporters at his residence, Mr Krishna said, "I am shocked to see such a judgement. I have never come across such an order in the post-independence period."
Mr Krishna also came out with a new logic to defend the state's case. "When individuals lose an inch of land to a project, they have the right to claim compensation. Similarly, the four reservoirs were built utilising Karnataka's resources. Therefore, if the state feels that its property has been taken over, it can claim compensation," he argued.
Mr Krishna reminisced how the dams were built in the Cauvery basin.
"The royal family pledged gold and Sir M. Visvesvaraya built the KRS dam. The Karnataka government need not be deterred, it should take suitable action," he said.
Mr Krishna referred to the Supreme Court judgement in the BCCI case, and said in that case, the Court appointed a technical team. "Why did the court not take such a step in this case? This is unreasonable."
Asked whether PM Narendra Modi should intervene now, he evaded a direct reply saying, "The Vajpayee era was different. Today's situation is different." When his comments were sought about Karnataka's legal team, Mr Krishna said, "They did a commendable job with their eloquent arguments. Unfortunately, the judgement has wrecked the constitutional spirit brick by brick."
