Cauvery row: Karnataka BJP to launch Save Cauvery Yatra
Besides launching the campaign in the Cauvery basin region in protest against the release of water to Tamil Nadu, the BJP has asked the government to compensate farmers for crop loss
Mounting pressure on the Congress-led government in Karnataka, senior BJP leader Basavaraj Bommai on Friday (September 15) said the party would undertake a 'Cauvery Rakshana Yatra' (Save Cauvery Yatra) in the taluks on the river basin to protest the release of water to neighbouring Tamil Nadu.
Bommai spoke to reporters after attending a party meeting on the Cauvery basin region in Bengaluru, which former chief minister BS Yediyurappa attended. He also demanded that the government pay a compensation of Rs 25,000 for each acre to every farmer in the Cauvery basin region.
Alleging that the state government has failed to protect the interests of the state, Bommai, said, “The management of Cauvery water should have happened in the month of June. We have not released even 30 per cent of water to our farmers. On the other hand, Tamil Nadu farmers are growing a second crop.”
“Our (Karnataka) government miserably failed to make an impressive argument before the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA). The Karnataka government also failed to convince the Supreme Court about the prevailing situation in the Cauvery basin,” Bommai said. “We released water and got into trouble. The state government is in a defensive position,” he added.
Ultimately, the Congress government sacrificed the state’s interests, he said. “This government did not have the commitment and morality to protect the rights of Karnataka in the Cauvery water issue,” he alleged.
Bommai further asked the state government to put forth the ground reality in the Cauvery basin before the apex court and the CWMA in an effective manner. “Since Water Resources Minister DK Shivakumar has engaged good lawyers, he has been winning in personal cases. Let him engage a good team of advocates regarding the Cauvery water row,” he said.
Claiming that the crops in the Cauvery basin region have withered as water was not released at the right time, Bommai said the state government must pay a compensation of Rs 25,000 per acre to every farmer in the region.
At any cost, water must not be released to Tamil Nadu, he stressed.
Bommai also criticised the state government for trying to drag the Union government into the Cauvery water sharing row. “The Congress party is giving petty reasons to shirk from its responsibility. The state government must write to the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu MK Stalin, and not to the Union government. Since the DMK is one of the allies of the INDIA bloc, the state must write to the TN CM,” he said.
“It has been decided to undertake the Cauvery yatra in every taluk in the Cauvery basin. Along with the padayatra, we will stage dharna and other kinds of agitation. The next course of action would be decided after September 21 as the case would come up for hearing on September 21 (in the Supreme Court),” Bommai said.
(With agency inputs)