While Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are poised for a collision in the Cauvery water dispute following a deficient monsoon, BJP leader Uma Bharti on Sunday said the issue was more political in nature and could be easily sorted out by the parties concerned.
At a press conference here, she said. “I see political problem behind the issue. Politicians want to play with the nerve of the people to get more votes. It is very easy to solve this problem,” she opined.
She, however, parried a query on if she would advise the BJP government in Karnataka on its stand on the Cauvery water dispute. About the Sethusamudram project, Uma Bharati said Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had given her support to preserve the Ram Setu when the previous Karunanidhi government pressed for the project’s implementation. “She (Jayalalithaa) supported (the stand) that Ram Setu should not be destroyed. I think she will remember her words,” Uma Bharti said.
Uma Bharati held talks with office bearers of the BJP’s State unit on the ‘Save Ganga’ movement. She said that 20 crore people depended on the river for food and cultivation and pollution to the water body will wreck their livelihood.
The movement, she said, would be taken up in three phases - a yatra from Gangasagar to Gangotri starting September 20, a seminar involving scientific and religious experts in New Delhi on November 6 and a human chain campaign on December 2 stressing on a pollution-free Ganges. She said pollution caused by mortal remains of persons and funeral rites would be discussed at the conference.