Kalasa-Banduri: CM urged to take delegation to Goa

The State BJP leaders have mounted pressure on Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Water Resources Minister M B Patil to take an-all party delegation from Karnataka to Goa to discuss the vexed Mahadayi river water-sharing issue.

BJP leaders Pralhad Joshi, Jagadish Shettar, Basavaraj Bellad and Aravind Bellad have written to Patil, while Joshi has shot off a letter to Siddaramaiah.

The BJP leaders have said when the all-party delegation met the prime minister over the Kalasa-Banduri issue, he had suggested that the team talk to the chief ministers of Goa, Maharashtra and Opposition party leaders to find an out-of-court settlement.

The BJP had written a letter to this effect to Patil. But the minister has so far not reacted to it. Even Siddaramaiah has not bothered to reply. Siddaramaiah must take a delegation of elected representatives to Goa and Maharashtra to discuss the water sharing issue and find a solution, the party leaders damanded.

HDK criticises BJP

JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy accused the BJP leaders of misleading the people of North Karnataka by making false statements and claims on the issue of Mahadayi. The problem cannot be solved if they take out yatras. Instead, they should stage a dharna in parliament, he suggested.

A delegation of farmers, who are staging protest demanding implementation of Kalasa-Banduri project, met Kumaraswamy and urged him to take initiative in taking an all-party delegation to Goa and Maharashtra for holding talks on the Mahadayi issue.