BENGALURU: Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda on Saturday said the State Government should convince Prime Minister Narendra Modi about injustice done to Karnataka in the inter-state Cauvery river water dispute. Determined to stop Tamil Nadu from going ahead with its proposed project to utilise 45 tmcft of surplus Cauvery water, Karnataka has decided to fight out the matter legally and politically.
“We must go to the Supreme Court and also the government must convince the Prime Minister about injustice done to Karnataka in the inter-state dispute,” Gowda told The New Sunday Express. Saying that taking an all-party delegation to Delhi to discuss Tamil Nadu’s project may not be of much use, the JDS supremo said the BJP is in power in the State and Centre, and Karnataka should convince Modi to protect the State’s interest.
Gowda said they will not indulge in politics over such an issue and he too is willing to take up Karnataka’s case before Modi. “If invited, I am also willing to go and explain (it to the PM). I am prepared to do so,” Gowda said and added that Central ministers from Karnataka too must take an initiative in this regard.
Referring to Tamil Nadu’s opposition to Mekedatu balancing reservoir project in Karnataka, Gowda asked why should Karnataka be prevented from constructing a dam to store water for the purpose of providing drinking water, that too when it has made it clear that it will strictly adhere to the Supreme Court decision on releasing TN’s share of water.
In 2016, Gowda had launched a hunger strike in front of the Gandhi statue in Vidhana Soudha seeking
justice to Karnataka over the release of Cauvery water and had forced the Centre to take note of Karnataka’s concerns.Meanwhile, State Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday said that Tamil Nadu has been opposing any project taken up by Karnataka even to modernise 300-year-old dams that were in a bad condition besides opposing even the allocation of drinking water for Bengaluru.