SC to hear Cauvery case today, Karnataka to stick to its stand

Will not release water to Tamil Nadu, says Siddaramaiah

Karnataka has decided to stick to its stand not to release any water to Tamil Nadu when the Supreme Court hears the Cauvery water dispute case on Friday.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who was here to attend a meeting convened by Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti, is learnt to have decided not to release any more water to Tamil Nadu.

Siddaramaiah, who chaired an all-party meeting in Bengaluru on Wednesday had said that he would take a call on releasing water to Tamil Nadu as directed by the Apex Court, after the meeting called by the Union Water Resources Minister.

Soon after the Thursday’s meeting, the chief minister went into a huddle with legal experts and officials here till late night and came to a conclusion that the state would stick to its earlier decision. Siddaramaiah is learnt to have decided to remain defiant in his decision and face any consequences, sources told DH.

 Siddaramaiah, however, refused to comment on what would be the state’s stand in the Supreme Court on Friday when the matter comes up for hearing. He just said, “the next course of action would be decided after Friday’s Supreme Court decision”.

On defying of the Supreme Court order, the chief minister said, “It is not defying the order. The National Water Policy says priority should be given to drinking water and then to irrigation and other purposes. This is what we are demanding."

“We have the highest respect for judiciary and rule of law. We don't want to defy the Supreme Court order. We have complied with the earlier orders of the Supreme Court and released 12,000 cusecs of water. Now, our situation is that we don't have water."

He said that the state can’t spare any quantum of water to Tamil Nadu as it will be detrimental to drinking water requirement of people of Karnataka. He termed as ‘baseless’ the allegations made by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa that Tamils living in Karnataka were being targeted post-Supreme Court orders. “We have maintained law and order and will continue to give them protection."

Seeking to drive home a point that Tamil Nadu is in a more comfortable position than Karnataka, he said his state only has 27.6 tmcft of Cauvery water for drinking purpose.