Cauvery plan

The SC said it will not go into “correctness of the scheme” and will only determine whether the scheme is in consonance with its February 16 judgment.

In its verdict, the court had asked the Centre to formulate a scheme to ensure compliance of its judgment on the decades-old water dispute. It raised Karnataka’s share of 270 tmcft of Cauvery water by 14.75 tmcft and reduced Tamil Nadu’s share. The court also modified the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal award of 2007.

The authority, with its headquarters in Bengaluru, will include bureaucrats and technocrats, as reported by Hindustan Times on April 11.

According to the scheme, the chairman, who will be appointed by the Centre, will have a proposed tenure of five years or till the age of 65. The body will have two whole-time members for the period of three years — a chief engineer from the Central Water Engineering service and a commissioner-level officer from the ministry of agriculture. It will also have two part-time members from the ministry who are at the rank of joint secretary or higher. Administrative secretaries in the water resources departments of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry will also be part-time members in the authority.

The draft scheme has vested powers in a regulation committee to change the water share of each state in case of any deficiency in water availability in any month of the year. Through the regulation committee and the Central Water Commission, the authority will determine the extent of “distress” to devise a formula for the division of water. The scheme says the decisions of the authority shall be binding for the four states. In case of non-cooperation, the authority can also approach the Centre.

The scheme says while the government shall initially contribute ₹2 crore for the functioning of the authority, the four basin states will also be required to collectively contribute another ₹2 crore. Karnataka and Tamil Nadu will later share 40% each of the administrative expenses, while Kerala will contribute 15% and Puducherry 5%.

Himanshu Thakkar of the South Asian Network on Dams, Rivers and People said: “A technically competent body which creates monitors and studies data on daily basis can work. It should be aided by an independ- ent set of officers like in Narmada management board in which no one controls water and release of water depends on data.” The Congress in Karnataka accused the central government of betraying the interests of the people of the state by agreeing to set up the body to monitor water sharing.

Irrigation minister MB Patil said it was clear that the Bharatiya Janata Party government had waited till voting was over in the state before submitting its affidavit. “Now, they have in principle agreed to a Cauvery management board although they have not used that name. This is a complete betrayal of the interests of the state,” he said.

Patil said the timing of the affidavit suggested the Centre had not applied its mind in a fair manner on the issue: “The SC had clearly said the central government must apply its mind and come to a decision keeping the interests of the states in mind.”

Union minister DV Sadananda Gowda dismissed the claims, saying all parties were heard and the decision was arrived at keeping in mind all concerns. Gowda said the Centre had been called upon to submit a scheme by the Supreme Court and was only following the top court’s instructions.

Patil’s remark isn’t far off the mark. The Centre first asked the court for time till the Karnataka polls were over to submit the scheme. When the court refused, it said the Prime Minister and other ministers were busy with the elections in Karnataka and were not able to finalise the scheme. The Centre missed two deadlines for submitting details of the scheme to the court. Monday was the third deadline.

In Tamil Nadu, the state government expressed hope that the court will give a favourable verdict on May 16. The opposition DMK reiterated its demand for setting up the Cauvery Management Board. Chief minister K Palaniswami said: “I hope there will be a good verdict on May 16”. will find it difficult to ally with the party because he is Kumaraswamy’s bete noire.

Many see chief minister Siddaramaiah’s Sunday statement saying he would support the Congress party’s decision if chooses to name a Dalit as the chief minister as the extension of an olive branch to the JD (S).

The recent decision of the Congress to poach seven JD (S) MLAS ahead of the recent Rajya Sabha polls has only added to the anger against the party in the JD(S). However, one Congress leader pointed to the informal alliance between the two parties in the two by-polls in 2017 as evidence that there was a possibility of a coalition. In the Nanjangud by-polls last year, the Congress candidate was a rebel from the JD(S) who won against V Srinivasa Prasad, the Congress leader who moved to the BJP. In fact, chief minister Siddaramaiah had publicly thanked the JD(S) after the Congress won both seats.

There are issues concerning a partnership with the BJP as well. Deve Gowda said in a recent interview that he would disown his son (Kumaraswamy) if he were to join hands with the BJP. The party’s decision to align with the Bahujan Samaj Party, too, is seen as a hurdle for a coalition with the BJP. The first JD(S) leader said Mayawati had made it clear that she would not accept any alliance with the BJP. “It is not just Mayawati who made us vow that we would not join forces with the BJP, but even K Chandrashekhar Rao of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti and Asaduddin Owaisi ( of the All India Majlis-e-ittehadul Muslimeen ) are against any such talks. Since they have campaigned for us, it is difficult to now dump the alliances with these parties,” this person added. Both Congress president Rahul Gandhi and PM Narendra Modi have attacked the JD(S) and its leader and former prime minister, HD Deve Gowda. While Gandhi said the ‘S’ in the party’s name stood for Sangh Parivar, Modi has repeatedly claimed that the party will not be able to defeat the Congress as it is limited to a few seats.

BJP leaders said there was no question of talks with the JD(S) at this point. “We are confident of getting a clear and comfortable majority,” a senior BJP leader said, on the condition of anonymity. “If we do not get a majority we will take a call only after the polls,” he said. “In fact, while everybody is busy projecting the differences between Sid- daramaiah and Kumaraswamy, it is fairly clear that Deve Gowda and Siddaramaiah continue to be close. Also, Deve Gowda is aiming for a role in 2019, so he will not willingly join us in a coalition,” the leader said.

Political analyst Narendar Pani said it was doubtful if parties would discuss any possible alliance at this time. “With Kumaraswamy having gone to Singapore, there doesn’t seem much scope for discussions at this stage. Anyway, the JD(S) will play hard to get if there is a hung assembly and will try and extract as much as possible with the prospective alliance partner,” he said.

Proper talks concerning a possible alliance will begin soon after the results are out, the first JD(S) leader said. That way, we will know “our strength or the two parties’ weaknesses”.