Chennai: Denying allegations of betrayal on the Cauvery dispute, DMK chief M. Karunanidhi on Wednesday said the DMK government withdrew the case seeking a tribunal on Cauvery row, only after the request of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
Recalling that the DMK had filed a petition in the Supreme Court demanding the setting up of a tribunal in 1971. However, Indira Gandhi who visited TN made a request to withdraw the petition, promising a solution through talks. An all-party meeting was convened even before the case was withdrawn temporarily, he said.
However, talks with Karnataka did not yield fruits and the DMK government wrote a letter to the Centre in May 1975 seeking the formation of the tribunal.
Again, Tamil Nadu insisted on tribunal formation in 1986 and a case was filed in the Supreme Court asking it to direct the Centre to form a tribunal.
Since the DMK government in 1989 was firm in tribunal formation, the SC gave a direction accepting the state government’s stand and the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal was constituted in 1990. The DMK government also initiated steps to get an interim verdict of the tribunal. Even the final verdict of the tribunal was delivered during the DMK rule in 2007, he noted.
