Will deal strictly with those who sparked rumours: Minister

"... In India, all are Indians and can live anywhere. The government will deal with an iron hand against traitors who sparked the rumours with foreign help," the Shipping Minister said, participating in the Rajiv Gandhi birth anniversary celebrations here.

On incidents of Tamil Nadu fishermen being attacked allegedly by Sri Lankan Navy, Vasan said he has met External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and discussed the matter.

The minister said he would take a delegation of fishermen and their representatives to Delhi to discuss the issue.

Referring to the Cauvery water dispute, he said Karnataka should give water to Tamil Nadu as per Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal's interim order. Centre will urge Karnataka for release of water, he said.

On the Kudankulam nuclear power project, he hit out at the state government, saying if it had taken action against those acting as impediment to the commissioning of the plant, the project could have been commissioned earlier.

"We are not disputing cent per cent power generated there for Tamil Nadu," he said, apparently referring to Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's demand for entire 1,000 MW to be generated by the first unit of KNPP to be allocated to Tamil Nadu.

Jayalalithaa had yesterday renewed her demand to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in this regard and hoped for a "quick response.

During Congress leader late Kamaraj's tenure as Chief Minister, several power projects had been implemented but after that there were no such schemes and as a result there is power scarcity, he claimed.

Loadshedding is continuously prevailing in the state, he said.