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DKS defers talks with Vijay amid Cauvery protests; Tamil Nadu to move Supreme Court
DKS said the current atmosphere was not conducive for talks and that he would seek another date for discussions.
Karnataka chief minister DK Shivakumar on Friday announced the postponement of his August 3 meeting with his Tamil Nadu counterpart, C Joseph Vijay amid protests in the state over the Cauvery water-sharing dispute. He said the current atmosphere was not conducive for talks and that he would seek another date for discussions. The meeting had been scheduled at Vijay’s initiative.
“I had requested to visit Tamil Nadu, but the [previous] DMK [Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam] government had not given permission. Later, elections took place, and the government changed. Now Vijay has said that he will come to Karnataka with his team. In such a situation, the developments around the protests are not giving us confidence,” Shivakumar said.
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He said the meeting should take place in a more cordial environment. “We should create an opportunity to resolve this issue through cordiality. If the problem is resolved, it will benefit them as well as us. The atmosphere is not good now, so I will discuss requesting the Tamil Nadu chief minister to postpone our meeting for a few days,” he said.
The decision came as farmers and Kannada organisations staged protests against the Cauvery Water Management Authority’s (CWMA) rejection of Karnataka’s appeal against an order directing it to release 3,500 cusecs of water daily to Tamil Nadu for 15 days.
Protesters tore posters of Vijay’s film Jananayagan and forced some theatres to stop screenings. BJP leaders, including state president B Y Vijayendra, were taken into preventive custody while marching towards the Krishna Raja Sagar (KRS) dam, officials aware of the matter said.
The party also threatened to boycott the all-party meeting convened by Shivakumar on August 2 if the state government did not assure that Cauvery water would not be released to Tamil Nadu. Leaders of Opposition R Ashoka and Chalavadi Narayanaswamy, along with MLC C T Ravi, were among those detained, the officials said.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu law minister R Nirmal Kumar said the state would move the Supreme Court to secure its share of Cauvery water. “Legally, we need to get the required water through the Supreme Court,” he said, adding that Karnataka had repeatedly failed to release water despite directions from the authority.
Kumar said Vijay was consulting legal experts and stakeholders and would announce the state’s legal strategy within a week. “The government is currently evaluating multiple avenues, which include approaching the apex court, pushing for a tribunal, conducting inter-state negotiations, or exerting pressure on the Union government,” he said.
Shivakumar said both states were trying to protect their interests and should work towards a solution through dialogue. “If they want to protect the interests of their state, we also want to protect the interests of our state. We are discussing whether this can be resolved through cordiality,” he said.
He said Karnataka had requested CWMA to reduce the quantity, defer the decision and give the state more time, but its appeal was rejected. “An all-party meeting has been called on August 2 to decide what should be done next. A decision will be taken after the meeting,” Shivakumar said.
Shivakumar said Tamil Nadu sought 9.94 TMC of water, while the recommendation was roughly half that quantity. He added that drinking water supplies would remain protected. “There will be no problem with drinking water. It requires 40 TMC of water, of which 36 TMC is required for drinking and 4 TMC may be lost through evaporation. Any remaining surplus water during a distress situation will be distributed based on the water sharing formula.”
