THANJAVUR: AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami criticised the TVK Government on Friday for approaching the Supreme Court belatedly to get Tamil Nadu's due share of Cauvery water from Karnataka.
Leading a protest in Thanjavur on Friday against the TVK Government, the former Chief Minister said the Tamil Nadu Government ought to have demanded that Karnataka release the water in June itself.
"Tamil Nadu could have approached the Supreme Court immediately. Now, they approached the Supreme Court belatedly," he added.
Coming down against Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay's plan for talks with Karnataka over Cauvery water, Palaniswami recalled several rounds of talks held between the Chief Ministers of the two states, which did not result in any agreement.
Claiming that the TVK Government's proposal for talks between the Chief Ministers of the two riparian states was a delaying tactic, Palaniswami questioned, "When Karnataka has not been obeying even the orders of Supreme Court, will the talks proposed be fruitful?"
Blaming the TVK Government for failing to pressurise the Karnataka Government to implement the orders of the Cauvery Tribunal and Supreme Court, which were obtained after prolonged legal struggles, the former Chief Minister urged the Tamil Nadu Government to listen to the opposition parties and farmers on the issue.
He berated the State Government for not calling an all party meeting even after its alliance partners, including the VCK and Communist parties, demanded it.
He further added that due to the failure of the TVK Government to get the Cauvery water, farmers in the Cauvery delta could not take up Kuruvai paddy cultivation to the full extent.
"Even the farmers who cultivated Kuruvai crop using ground water could not irrigate their crops fully as electricity was made available only for 14 hours by the Government," Palaniswami said.
Pointing out the steps taken by the Karnataka Government to build the Mekedatu dam across the Cauvery, Palaniswami said, "Tamil Nadu should not, in any way, accept the proposal. We will support the TN Government's steps to thwart Karnataka's efforts to build the dam. However, it is condemnable that the Government has not been taking any such steps."
"If Mekedatu was constructed, the Cauvery delta would become a desert and more than 20 districts would be deprived of drinking water," he added.
The former Chief Minister also criticised the TVK Government for not fulfilling its election promise of crop loan waiver.
Pointing out that during the AIADMK rule between 2016 and 2021, the loans of farmers were waived twice, he said the TVK Government had failed to implement its own promise of complete waiver of loans for small and marginal farmers with land holdings of up to five acres and 50% loan waiver for other farmers.
He criticised the conditions imposed for loan waiver by the TVK Government, such as only the loan of one farmer in a joint family being waived, that too only the lowest amount of loan, and no loan waiver for those who have overdue loans.
"This is not fair. During AIADMK rule we have completely waived the loans. If TVK did not honour its poll promises, the farmers will teach a lesson to it," he said.
Later, talking to reporters, Palaniswami said that during the 100 days of TVK rule, there were no schemes for the people.
"We are witnessing only the struggles of Government employees, doctors and nurses," he said.
He also said that the Government had only renamed already existing schemes and increased property tax. They did not allocate funds for the pension scheme introduced by the earlier DMK Government, he said, adding that during the three months the TVK Government had borrowed Rs 20,000 crore and incurred Rs 17,000 crore as revenue expenditure. "This shows how this Government is functioning," he said.