Optimistic JD-S hopes SC takes positive view of Karnataka's Cauvery resolution

As the Karnataka state assembly adopted a resolution not to share Cauvery waters with Tamil Nadu, thereby appearing to trigger a constitutional crisis, the Janata Dal (Secular) on Saturday hoped that the Supreme Court would take a positive view of this act as the state is suffering from an 'acute shortage' of water.

JD(S) leader Danish Ali told ANI that the Centre has been lax with regard to the dispute and appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene.

"I hope the Supreme Court will take a positive view and also the Government of India, which has been sleeping like a Kumbhkaran (Demon king Ravana's brother) and not coming to the rescue of the people of Karnataka, will wake up. The honourarble Prime Minister must intervene and come to the rescue of the people of Karnataka," he said.

"On the one side, the people of Karnataka do not have water to drink, and on the other hand, the neighbouring state (Tamil Nadu) is demanding water for irrigation purposes not only for the standing crop, but also for the next seasonal crop, it is total injustice," he added.

Ali also pointed out that the resolution must be seen as a consequence to a crisis that emerged due to the acute shortage of water in Karnataka.

The Karnataka assembly unanimously decided that Cauvery waters would be released to meet the requirements of Bengaluru and for the towns and villages that fall under the Cauvery Basin.

The resolution was moved by Opposition BJP leader Jagadish Shettar and by Y. S .V. Datta of JD-S.

The resolution noted that in the water year 2016-17, there has been an acute situation of distress, but the shortfall in the basin will become known only at the end of the season on January 31, 2017.

It pointed out that the combined storage in four reservoirs in the Cauvery basin -- Krishnaraja Sagar, Hemavathy, Harangi and Kabini -- had reached "alarmingly low levels at 27 TMC ft."

"The resolution is passed after carefully considering the needs of the inhabitants of the state of Karnataka whose interests are likely to be jeopardized. The water in the core reservoirs is any way reduced other than meeting the drinking water requirements of inhabitants in the Cauvery basin, including the entire city of Bengaluru," former chief minister and BJP legislator Shettar said.