BS Yeddyurappa fooling people: Basavaraj Horatti

Bengaluru: Senior Janata Dal (Secular) leader Basavaraj Horatti called state BJP president B.S. Yeddyurappa’s decision to read out a letter by Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on sharing of the Mahadayi river water with Karnataka at a public meeting in Hubballi a political gimmick, here on Friday.

In a press release, he said unless the Chief Ministers of all three states concerned sat across the table and arrived at a consensus on the dispute, the solution not have Constitutional validity.

“A head of state writing to a person who does not have a Constitutional post smacks of a poll gimmick. The Bharatiya Janata Party is only trying to fool the people of North Karnataka,” he charged, adding that going by protocol Prime Minister Narendra Modi had to convene a meeting of all three Chief Ministers concerned and direct the Goa government to release 7.56 tmcft of water to Karnataka immediately.

Refuting Mr Yeddyurappa’s claim that his state party chief H D Kumaraswamy was against the Kalasa Banduri project, Mr Horatti recalled that during the Bharatiya Janata Party-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition government, it was unofficially discussed.

“Mr Kumaraswamy who was then Chief Minister, was against starting the project work without permission, but the then Irrigation Minister K S Eshwarappa and then Deputy Chief Minister Yeddyurappa went ahead and laid the foundation stone for the project. As it was not an official function, Mr Kumaraswamy refused to attend it . But now Mr Yeddyurappa is spreading the canard that he was against this project,” he said.

HDK to BSY: State needs water not your blood!
Taking a swipe at BJP State President Mr B.S. Yeddyurappa for his statement that he was ready to sacrifice his blood for the sake of Mahadayi water, JD(S) State President Mr H.D. Kumaraswamy quipped that what the state needed was water and not Mr Yeddyurappa’s blood.

Speaking to reporters here on Friday, Mr Kumaraswamy said the two national parties were involved in ‘water politics’ and were not responding to the needs of the state.

“Who is Mr Amit Shah (BJP national president) to give a judgment on the water dispute? This is a double game by the BJP,'' he said. Shah had on Wednesday called a meeting of BJP leaders from Goa and Karnataka to discuss the water row. Commenting on Mr Yeddyurappa’s act of reading out a letter he received from Goa CM Manohar Parrikar on Thursday, Mr Kumaraswamy said, “I don't think we need that letter, we want talks through proper channels.”