Kannada outfits divided over Thursday bandh call against Cauvery water release

Bengaluru, Aug 12 (PTI) The Federation of Kannada organisations is divided on the call for a strike on Thursday against the CWMA direction to release 12,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu.

While the federation president Vatal Nagaraj is adamant, many other organisations associated with the federation have backed off, saying that they would not support ‘Bandh’ (total shutdown).

However, they said they would offer their "moral support to Nagaraj’s fight".

"We support Vatal Nagaraj's struggle, but under tomorrow's circumstances, we are not in a position to support the bandh", Praveen Shetty, who heads one of the factions of the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike, told reporters.

According to sources in the state transport department, the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) and Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) employees’ association have not provided support to the bandh. So are the private bus associations, transporters and autorickshaw associations, who have distanced themselves from the bandh.

Similarly, street vendors will also function as usual because everyone is only extending moral support. Government and the private schools will also function the same way.

However, Raitha Hitarakshana Samithi and a few other farmers’ associations have extended their support to Bandh.

Sunanda of Raitha Hitarakshana Samithi said her organisation supports the strike because injustice has been meted out to Karnataka.

Vatal Nagaraj and organisations backing him are opposing the CWMA’s order of releasing 12,000 cusecs (Cubic feet per second) of Cauvery water for 15 days to Tamil Nadu, which started from Wednesday morning.

The state government has contended that the situation in Karnataka does not favour releasing so much water to Tamil Nadu because there is a shortage of rainfall in the state, especially in the Cauvery region. PTI