Tamil Nadu unites to fight Karnataka dam plan
CHENNAI: A meeting the legislative parties in Tamil Nadu, called by Chief Minister MK Stalin, on Monday decided to confront the neighbouring Karnataka state against its bid to construct a dam at the border point of Mekedatu and prevent water from the Cauvery river.
The meeting, atended by all parties represented in the state legislature, passed three resolutions.
One: all parties in Tamil Nadu will extend their full support taken by the state government to prevent the construction of the dam at Mekedatu. To reflect the opinion of the people of Tamilnadu the resolutions taken in this meeting will be handed over to the Union government by representatives from all the parties.
Two: the Supreme Court’s verdict should be followed in the mater.
Three: Karnataka should not build a dam at Mekedatu without the consent of the states in the downstream of Cauvery river.
A week earlier, state Water Resources Minister Duraimurugan had met Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in Delhi and requested him to take appropriate action in the issue.
Stalin had already met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and explained Tamil Nadu’s stand in the row. However, Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa last week asserted that the Mekedatu project will be implemented at all costs and that the people in the state should have no doubt about it.
“No one can stop the project,” he said. The main opposition Anna DMK and its ally the PMK strongly condemned Yediyurappa’s remarks. Such statements would affect the cordial relations between the two states, they warned. They authorised Stalin to take all possible legal steps to stall Karnataka’s bid to construct the Mekedatu dam.
Meanwhile the ruling DMK took a firm stand against move initiated by state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders to bifurcate Tamil Nadu.
BJP leaders have proposed a separate Union Territory called Kongunadu, carving out the western districts like Coimbatore where the saffron party had fared reasonably well in the April 6 Assembly election.