Mysuru: Claiming the state government had done its best to resolve the Kalasa-Banduri dispute, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah put the onus on the 17 BJP MPs from the state, saying if they honestly made up their mind, they could persuade Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene and find a solution to the problem.
“They should do it in the interest of the state. But they will not as they do not want the issue to be resolved,” he charged, speaking to reporters here Tuesday morning.
“We had passed an unanimous resolution in the assembly that the Prime Minister should try to settle the issue outside the tribunal. But (senior BJP leader) Jagadish Shettar opposed this. Why did he do that? What is their intention? We also took a delegation that included farmers to the Prime Minister and tried to convince him to get involved, pointing out that in the past Ms Indira Gandhi had interceded in the Telugu Ganga dispute and made sure it was resolved. But he did not respond. Maharashtra and Goa have BJP Chief Ministers and the Prime Minister is from the BJP. So will they say no if he calls them for a meeting on this issue? Can I or Sonia Gandhi call these CMs for a meeting? I don’t understand how they can say we are not cooperating,” he said.
Asked what the government intended to do now, he said the only option left was to fight it out before the tribunal and the state was seriously on the job.
