Karnataka will now release 177.25 thousand million cubic feet of water to Tamil Nadu instead of 192
Tamil Nadu's ruling AIADMK attempted to cushion the blow after Friday's Supreme Court's ruling on the Cauvery water dispute reduced the state's allocation of water, underlining the court's direction to set up a special body which could guarantee that Karnataka wasn't able to hold back the allocated water.
Chief Minister Palaniswami led the effort to pre-empt the opposition, agreeing that the reduction in Tamil Nadu's share was "disappointing". But he stressed that the direction to set up the Cauvery Management Board a "big victory" for the state.
"The truth is the (opposition) DMK had given up Tamil Nadu's rights during its regime" and the Karunanidhi-led party did not stop the construction of a dam by Karnataka in 1974, he said.
In a landmark verdict that also casts a long shadow on southern politics, Tamil Nadu's share of water from the river Cauvery was reduced by the top court on Friday. Karnataka will now release 177.25 TMC or thousand million cubic feet to Tamil Nadu instead of 192.
The court verdict - which walks a tightrope to balance the rights of the two states that have been sparring over the Cauvery water for decades - comes at a time the ruling party is seen to be particularly vulnerable. It not only has to counter the opposition but also sharp attacks from the group led by its sidelined leader TTV Dhinakaran who won J Jayalalithaa's assembly seat.
In the weeks after losing the RK Nagar seat, the party has sacked hundreds of workers believed to be supporting Mr Dhinakaran.
This was one reason AIADMK leaders initially suggested that the government would need to study the judgment in detail. But the chief minister spoke out after the attacks from the opposition started getting sharper on the emotive issue.
The DMK had blamed the AIADMK for putting up weak arguments before the judges. Its leader MK Stalin said the state had been cheated of its share and nudged Chief Minister Palaniswami to convene an all party meeting for a political consensus on how to move forward. It is a suggestion that the ruling party is unlikely to act on in a hurry because this might be seen as a confession that it had failed to protect Tamil Nadu's interests.
TTV Dhinakaran also tweeted his barb, declaring that the ruling had saddened him because it would lead to a reduction in the area under cultivation.
Superstars Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan, contemporaries in Tamil Nadu cinema and now politics, have also spoken about their disappointment with the court ruling. Rajinikanth said the final verdict on water sharing "amounts to further affecting the livelihood of the farmers in Tamil Nadu, it is very disappointing".
Kamal Haasan too called the verdict "shocking" but cautioned against letting politics craft the state's response.
Farmers in the Tamil Nadu's drought-prone delta region largely welcome the ruling. Among those cheering is P Ayyakannu, the man who had taken the farmers' battle to the capital last year wearing just a loin cloth and carrying skulls.
The top court's orders that no state can claim ownership over river Cauvery and a direction to the centre to set up the independent Cauvery management board in six weeks have given them a new hope of assured supply of water for their livelihood.
P Ayyakannu, who heads the Tamil Nadu Delta Farmers Association, said, "What does Cauvery Management Board mean? Central officers will come to Karnataka, calculate the rainfall and assess. Karnataka can cultivate 20 lakh acres, the rest of the water must be sent to Tamil Nadu. Extra water will be equally divided. We can even get more water. We are happy."
However, some farmers are disappointed over the cut in share of water.
In Nagapattinam, the tail end of the delta region, Cauvery Dhanabalan, General Secretary of the Cauvery Farmers Protection Association said, "14 TMC less water would mean cultivation in one lakh acre would vanish. Till the centre sets up the Cauvery Management Board and takes control of River Cauvery, the Supreme Court order would just be a blank paper."