CHENNAI: The all-party meeting convened by the principal opposition party DMK, which had triggered a minor coalition drama among the ‘alternative front’ People’s Welfare Alliance, reiterated the demand to convene a special session of the Tamil Nadu assembly to discuss the ongoing Cauvery river water sharing dispute with Karnataka.
Convening a special session has been a demand raised by several parties here, but not responded to by the ruling AIADMK. It was in this context that the DMK called for an all-party meeting this morning, which brought on board Congress and its bitter splinter-rival, Tamil Maanila Congress; centrist Muslim League, and Islamist MMK and SDPI; Dravidar Kazhagam, farmers’ associations and few other smaller organisations that are influential in pockets of Tamil Nadu.
The drama, however, was in the PWA camp where VCK, had made clear its interest in participating but was finally succumbed to pressure from allies – MDMK, CPM and CPI. Hectic parleys right through yesterday by its leader Thol Thirumavalavan ended at 12.45 on Tuesday morning after he failed to convince MDMK general secretary Vaiko. VCK, one of the proponents of the alternate alliance idea ahead of the May 2016 assembly election, finally bowed to alliance pressure.
“Majority in our party wished to participate in the all-party meeting called by DMK. But majority in our alliance were against it,” the party conceded candidly.
The party did send three representatives to the meeting venue, DMK headquarters Anna Arivalayam, who carried a letter from Thirumavalavan to Stalin, the opposition leader and party treasurer who chaired the meeting. His father and party president M Karunanidhi was conspicuous by his absence, but a press release blamed this on an apparent allergy that he caught from one of his usual medicines which left him indisposed.
Speaking to reporters after the two-hour long meeting on Tuesday morning, Stalin said a similar meet would be organised soon to chalk out next course of action.
The all-party meeting adopted three resolutions including one that called for a special assembly session and an actual all-party meeting – that includes the ruling AIADMK. It also urged the State government to pressurise the Centre into shedding its reluctance to form the Cauvery Management Board, and sought Rs 30,000 as compensation per acre.
Beyond the flutter it created in the alliance circles, the meeting failed to enthuse the farmers due to the absence of a viable plan to ensure the rights of Tamil Nadu over Cauvery river water. With their crops withering away right before their eyes, the farmers had expected some strong proposals to get water to their crops. “But nothing substantial emerged out of the meeting,” a leader told The New Indian Express on Tuesday.