If no Cauvery board, ask MPs to resign: Stalin
Opposition DMK on Saturday urged chief minister Edapaddi Palaniswami to ask all Members of Parliament from Tamil Nadu to resign if the Centre fails to immediately set up the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) as per the recent Supreme Court’s directive.
DMK chief MK Stalin made the suggestion when he called on the CM at the latter’s invitation at the state secretariat in the morning. “We are ready to make any sacrifice to protect the interests of the farmers and the state,” Stalin told reporters after the meeting.
He said he told the CM to mount pressure on the Centre by getting MPs from the state to resign when Parliament’s budget session resumes on March 5.
A three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra on February 16 directed to form the CMB within six weeks in a verdict that marginally increased Karnataka’s share of Cauvery water, reducing allocation for Tamil Nadu, settling the protracted water dispute between the southern states.
The Centre has so far remained non-committal on forming the board with Prime Minister Narendra Modi allegedly refusing to meet an all-party delegation from Tamil Nadu.
Political observers viewed the Centre’s alleged inaction as a deliberate move to avoid any adverse fallout in Karnataka ahead of the assembly elections in the state where the BJP is eyeing to form a government.
Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) leader S Ramadoss accused the Centre of being partial towards Karnataka to protect BJP’s political interests in the state.
Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah had already convened an all-party meeting on the Cauvery issue. The state is said to be preparing to oppose the top court’s directive on setting up of the Cauvery board.
Stating that Palaniswami told him that the Prime Minister is reluctant to meet an all-party delegation, Stalin said it was an insult to the entire population of Tamil Nadu and its farming community that is under severe stress due to repeated droughts over the past few years.
Stalin said that the CM told him that the PM wanted the allparty delegation to meet the concerned minister.
“EPS and OPS have been meeting the PM separately. Why is the PM not meeting the farmers, DMK and other Opposition parties?” Stalin questioned and added, “we want all-party delegation to call on the prime minister to press for CMB and safeguard interests of the state.”
At least five lakh acres of standing crops have wilted in Tamil Nadu due to non-availability of water, according to leaders of farmers’ associations.
State fisheries minister D Jayakumar, however, said Stalin’s claim on PM being reluctant to meet the all-party delegation from the state was “not correct”.
“The reply we got from the PM office is that the delegation should first meet the concerned minister,” Jayakumar said, and also denied that the state government was not doing enough.
Only two weeks have passed and there are still four more weeks for the implementation of the apex court’s directive on the CMB, the minister pointed out.
EPS and OPS have been meeting the PM separately. Why is the PM not meeting the farmers, DMK and other opposition parties? We want allparty delegation to ask the PM to safeguard state’s interests. MK STALIN, DMK president