Cornered Karnataka opens dam

Karnataka Chief Minister Jagdish Shettar on Thursday said that a team of MPs from the Cauvery basin would be heading to New Delhi to meet the Prime Minister on Friday and seek the Centre’s intervention in favour of the State, with regard to water-sharing with neighbouring Tamil Nadu, ahead of the Cauvery Monitoring Committee’s (CMC) meeting the same day.

The CM said he would take a suitable decision on the issue after taking legal opinion. The Law Department and the head of the State’s legal team that is fighting for Karnataka in the Cauvery issue Fali S Nariman, and Advocate General S Vijayashankar had advised Shettar to comply with the Supreme Court order to release 10,000 cusecs to TN everyday until the CMC makes a decision.

“If we release water and go to the CMC meeting to be held on Friday in Delhi, the chances of Karnataka getting relief will be more,” Nariman is said to have told Water Resources Minister Basavaraj Bommai.

Shettar along with Bommai and members of Parliament from the Cauvery basin region will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Water Resources Minister Harish Rawat on Friday to seek the Centre’s intervention in favour of the State. “We will try and convince the Prime Minister about the State’s situation and seek his intervention. We will also present our case effectively before the CMC. In the meantime, we will take further legal opinion on complying with the Supreme Court order,” Shettar informed the Assembly on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, Opposition parties — Congress and the JD(S) — urged the State government not to release water to Tamil Nadu as there was severe shortage of water in the state’s reservoirs.

They also demanded that the State government clarify its stand on the Supreme Court order.