DMK to deliberate on Cauvery issue after expiry of SC deadline

The DMK today convened an urgent meeting of its Executive Committee, an apex body, on March 30 to discuss the Cauvery issue amid strident demands by parties in Tamil Nadu that the Centre set up the water management board.

The meeting, to be held after the expiry of the Supreme Court's deadline of March 29 to formulate a scheme, will see the party evolving a "stand for the state's welfare," after seeing the Centre's response, party sources said here.

A DMK release said an urgent meeting of the apex executive council will be chaired by party working president M K Stalin on March 30 at its headquarters here to deliberate the Cauvery issue.

The main opposition party, which has been aggressively targeting the ruling AIADMK on the issue, asked all its executive members to attend it without fail.

The announcement comes a day after the party at its two-day regional conference in Erode said setting up of any other panel in the place of the board was unacceptable.

Senior AIADMK leader and Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar meanwhile said the Cauvery Management Board and a regulatory committee should be set up by the Centre as per the apex court order.

"It should be done, and we will make them (Centre) do it," he said while expressing confidence that it will be done by the Central government.

Stalin, meanwhile sarcastically, told reporters here that he expected the AIADMK to lead a big protest of its MLAs and MPs to Delhi if the Cauvery Management Board was not set up by the Centre within the timeframe fixed by Supreme Court for it.

"The Centre is not going make efforts to set up the CMB before March 29," he claimed.

BJP Tamil Nadu unit chief Tamilisai Soundararajan hit out at the DMK for 'posturing' on the inter-state river water issue and dared the party to ask its Rajya Sabha MPs including Kanimozhi to resign.

DMK had earlier mooted resignation of all Tamil Nadu MPs on the Cauvery issue to bring pressure on the Centre.

In the recently concluded assembly sitting, DMK had urged the ruling AIADMK to support the no-trust move by TDP against the BJP-led Centre over the Cauvery issue.

Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam had said the next course of action on Cauvery issue will be decided after the March 29 deadline.

In its judgement on petitions by Karnatka and Tamil Nadu over the final order of the Cauvery water disputes tribunal apportioning the water among the riparian states, the Supreme Court hadraised the 270 tmcft share of Karnataka by14.75 tmcft and reduced Tamil Nadu's share.

The court compensated Tamil Nadu's reduction by allowing extraction of 10 tmcft ground water from theriver basin.