Ramadoss says Cauvery talks with Karnataka wrong, Stalin hails it

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami's move to meet and urge his Karnataka counterpart to release Cauvery river water to save the Samba paddy crop on Wednesday elicited contrasting responses from DMK and PMK leadership, with the former hailing it.

PMK founder S.Ramadoss on Wednesday termed the state government's approach as "completely wrong" as he claimed it would be akin to forgoing Tamil Nadu's hard-fought rights in the river water dispute with Karnataka.

In a statement issued here, Ramadoss said that as per the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) Karnataka should release 192 thousand million cubic feet (TMC) of water per year but had released only 112 TMC this year.

The PMK leader said the Tamil Nadu government should have instead taken steps to get the balance 80 TMC water from Karnataka, taking the help of the Supreme Court and the central government.

Ramadoss said as Assembly elections were around the corner in Karnataka, its Chief Minister Siddaramaiah would not order release of Cauvery water.

On the other hand, DMK leader M.K. Stalin welcomed the Palaniswami's decision and said he "should have done this much earlier".

Stalin said Palaniswami should take along with him leaders of all opposition parties in Tamil Nadu to put pressure on Siddaramaiah to release water.

"If need be, Palaniswami should take all the opposition leaders to Delhi and meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on this issue."

On Tuesday, the Tamil Nadu government said Palaniswami and Ministers from the Cauvery Delta region will meet Siddaramaiah. A decision on this was taken at a meeting on Monday.

The statement said a letter seeking an appointment had been sent to the Karnataka Chief Secretary and its Chief Minister's Principal Secretary.

An official statement said water inflow into Mettur Dam had gone down and hence sufficient water could not be released for irrigation.

--IANS

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