Belagavi: The BJP's move to persuade Goa Chief Minister, Manohar Parrikar to agree to release Mahadayi water to Karnataka's farmers, appears to be boomeranging on it. Not only has the Congress party in Goa come down hard on it , but also the Shiv Sena, which has called Mr Parrikar a "bad Santa Claus" for taking the decision on Christmas eve and trying to ruin the future of Goan children.
In a letter to PM Narendra Modi , the Sena appealed to him to intervene and stop the Goa Chief Minister from taking any decision on releasing Mahadayi water to Karnataka. "While Christmas brings joy and hope to people, Parikkar's move on this occasion has left Goa feeling hopeless about a better future," the Sena contended.
Counsel appearing for Goa in the Supreme Court case on the river dispute, Atmaram Nadkarni, too made his opposition clear, contending that instead of utilising its abundant water resources, Karnataka was bent upon diverting the flow of Mahadayiand feared the river would go dry.
AICC secretary from Goa, Girish Chodankar said Parrikar should first provide drinking water to his own voters in Panjim.
Amit Shah pulls up BSY for bungling on row?
With farmers seeming far from happy despite the BJP persuading the Goa Chief Minister to assure release of Mahadayi water to them, party national president, Amit Shah is believed to have pulled up his state unit chief, B.S. Yeddyurappa for bungling in the matter.
He is believed to have asked why BJP state leaders gave an assurance to farmers when the matter was sensitive and involved three states and told them they should have handle their agitation with more maturity.
Following the dressing down received from Mr. Shah, the desperate state leaders reportedly discusssed the matter at length at the party's core committee meeting held at Mr. Yeddyurappa's home instead of the party office, where farmers have been agitating for four days now.
At the meeting, Mr. Yeddyurappa is said to have pulled up party leaders for not handling the issue properly while he was busy with the Parivarthana Yatra and asked why they had not met the agitated farmers and gave room for the Congress and JD(S) to take political mileage from the issue.
Sources close to the former CM said he became emotional, saying despite his honest effort to resolve the Mahadayi dispute, farmers were not ready to give up their protest, causing huge embarrassment to the party.
Later, speaking to reporters, senior BJP leaders, Jagadish Shettar and Basavaraj Bommaiah alleged that the Congress was responsible for the delay in release of Mahadayi water to Karnataka.
