Chennai/Bangalore:
The sharing of Cauvery river water between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu is heading for another flashpoint with protests and politics picking on both sides of the border again. The toughest position so far has been taken by DMK chief M Karunanidhi, who has asked the Prime Minister to take a call on invoking Article 356 and put the BJP-ruled Karnataka under Central rule. The DMK is the second-largest partner in the UPA alliance at the Centre.
Political temperatures have shot up after Karnataka yesterday said it had stopped the flow of water into Tamil Nadu after Supreme Court deferred hearing Bangalore's plea for a review of the decision by the Cauvery River Authority (CRA). Karnataka has said that the level of water in the Krishna Raja Sagar dam, from where water is released into Tamil Nadu was too low for more to be released.
The Tamil Nadu government today said that it will file a contempt of court suit against Karnataka for not following the Supreme Court's order to follow the CRA ruling. Farmers in the delta region of Tamil Nadu need at least 80 Thousand Million Cubic (TMC) of water to save the standing Samba crop in more than two lakh acres. Presently there's just 30 TMC water in the Stanley reservoir in Mettur. Farmers had to give up their earlier short-term Kuruvai crop due to failure of the south-west monsoon. Many are worried that if this long term crop too fails, it would lead to a huge blow to their livelihood.
The stopping of water yesterday has sparked off political protests including those by DMK Chief Mr Karunanidhi, PMK Founder Dr Ramadoss and MDMK Chief Vaiko. Elaborating on his demand for Central rule in Karnataka, Mr Karunanidhi said, "This is not a case of vendetta, but it should be a lesson for other states in the future. Tamil Nadu's fields shouldn't turn graveyards." He also criticised external affairs minister S M Krishna, who is from Karnataka, for writing to the PM on the issue, calling it "politically incorrect".
"It is a big mistake. Someone who is a minister in the Central cabinet should be common for both states. It is wrong to work with regional considerations," Mr Karunanidhi said.
PMK's chief S Ramadoss today asked the Centre to deploy the Army to ensure that Karnataka releases water to Tamil Nadu. He also demanded that the Centre take over all Karnataka's dams across the Cauvery, which flows through both the states. He termed stopping the release of water after the court's order "a threat to the country's integrity" and accused the Karnataka government of "instigating people to protest against Tamil Nadu".
The Communist Party of India's Tamil Nadu wing has also joined the protest. More than 500 CPI activists were arrested in Thanjavur district for trying to stop trains to mark their protest.
In Karnataka, farmers, already holding
dharnas and rallies in protest, say they will continue till the CRA reviews its order. Earlier protests, mostly along the KRS dam, had turned violent.
The CRA, headed by the PM, has ruled that Karnataka must release 9,000 cusecs of water a day for the Tamil Nadu till October 15. The PM yesterday rejected any review of the CRA's decision.
The two states have been battling over the flow of water for decades. Tamil Nadu says its crops are dying as Karnataka is not releasing its share of waters according to the distress sharing formula evolved by the Central Water Commission. Karnataka claims it too doesn't have enough water to give to its southern neighbour.
Karnataka has been requesting the CRA to stay its September 19 order and keep it in abeyance till the decision was subjected to review. The Cauvery Monitoring Committee is expected to meet in Delhi on October 11 during which the reports of the two central study teams that visited both the states are likely to be debated.
The sharing of Cauvery waters has always been a touchy political issue between the two states. In Karnataka, it has brought the ruling BJP and the Opposition Congress together, with chief minister Jagdish Shettar and Mr Krishna speaking in one voice about the matter. In Tamilnadu opposition leaders have accused the Chief Minister of acting unilaterally and not convening an all party meaning. But Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has blamed the DMK Chief of not stopping Karnataka from building new dams across River Cauvery during his tenure as Chief Minister in the past.