CHENNAI: Actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan’s continued emphasis on talks, instead of legal recourse regarding the Cauvery water-sharing dispute has ruffled feathers in the State. In a joint press conference with newly elected Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy in Bengaluru on Monday, Kamal said he had always been advised to use court as the last resort.
“I have lots of lawyers in my family and their advice is to settle it between people,” he said, answering a reporter’s question whether the various Tamil Nadu governments over the years were right in choosing the legal route.
Various parties and farmer groups have come out hard against him. In a release, R Mutharasan, state secretary, CPI, said, “Already we have conducted 50 rounds of talks with Karnataka but nothing had been achieved, following which a tribunal was constituted and it has awarded a final judgement. In this situation, Kamal Hassan’s suggestion to hold talks would severely affect the welfare of Tamil Nadu.”
PR Pandian, president of the coordination committee of the All Tamil Nadu Farmers Association, said in a release that the meeting was a diversionary tactic. “HD Kumaraswamy has been tight-lipped over the Cauvery Water Management Authority. In this situation, Kamal Hassan holding talks with Kumarasamy has been scheduled with an aim to divert the issue and it would be against the welfare of Tamil Nadu” he said.
With Rajinikanth’s latest film ‘Kala’ facing protests in Karnataka, ER Eswaran, general secretary, Kongu Nadu Makkal Desiya Katchi, claimed that Kamal had actually met Kumaraswamy to ensure that his upcoming film ‘Vishwaroopam 2’ doesn’t face problems. “It is not necessary to meet the Karnataka CM after the Cauvery Water Management Authority was constituted. Hence, the people of Tamil Nadu won’t agree to his statement that he had visited the Karnataka CM over the Cauvery dispute,” he said in a release.