Karnataka will have to request SC to urge PM to call meeting: Congress

The Congress Party said on Saturday that since the Cauvery water dispute is already pending in the Supreme Court, a meeting of the state chief ministers can only be called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the direction of the apex court and not by the request of Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

"If Karnataka Chief Minister quotes.that in the 90s the Prime Minister on the direction of the Supreme Court arranged a meeting of the Chief Ministers then, but that meeting was convened only at the direction of the Supreme Court and not at the request of the Karnataka Chief Minister. So if he wants a solution , he will have to approach the Supreme Court and request it to request the Prime Minister to convene a meeting and settle things amicably," Congress leader Peter Alphonse told ANI.

He said that it is not possible for the Prime Minister to intervene in the issue on his own account.

"Now when the matter is pending before the Supreme Court, even if the Prime Minister wants to intervene, can he intervene? Can he make any initiation on his own account by pausing the Supreme Court? That is a big question in front of the Prime Minister," he said.

He added, "We have a rule of law in this country and the matter has been already apprised by the Supreme Court, which has passed an interim order directing Karnataka Government to release Cauvery water on a temporary basis for ten days."

"Meanwhile it has asked the Tamil Nadu government to approach the Cauvery supervisory committee and the supervisory committee at the request of the Tamil Nadu Government should immediately find out their requirement and what is the available water in Karnataka and then they will have to give a report to the Supreme Court and then it will finally pass the order," he said.

Siddaramaiah yesterday urged Prime Minister Modi to intervene in the matter by organising a meeting of the Chief Ministers of all the southern states.

In his letter, Siddaramaiah also pointed out the ongoing unrest in Karnataka in the wake of the state releasing 15,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu every day in accordance with the order of the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court's direction was based on Tamil Nadu's plea, seeking a direction to Karnataka to release 50.52 TMCFT of Cauvery water to save 40,000 acres of samba crops this season.