Siddaramaiah criticises Jayalalithaa over Cauvery row

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah Thursday criticised his Tamil Nadu counterpart J. Jayalalithaa for reportedly seeking over Rs.2,000 crore in damages from the state for not releasing Cauvery water.

"We do not have water to drink but still we released water to Tamil Nadu as per Supreme Court directive," he told reporters here.

"She still rakes up this issue frequently. I do not know why she does it," Siddaramaiah said, reacting to reports that Tamil Nadu had moved the Supreme Court seeking over Rs.1,000 crore for crop damages and another Rs.1,000 crore as penalty for not releasing Cauvery water to it.

The Karnataka chief minister told reporters that his government would present its case before the Supreme Court.

The Tamil Nadu move was also criticised by Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which was in power in the state till early this month.

State BJP president Prahlad Joshi told reporters in the north Karnataka district of Bijapur that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should intervene and provide justice to Karnataka as the state had no water to release as it had suffered serious drought.

BJP general secretary and Bangalore South Lok Sabha member H.N. Ananth Kumar told reporters in Bangalore that Tamil Nadu had no case. He said the prime minister should intervene and make the Tamil Nadu chief minister withdraw the petition from the apex court.