Grit on water row reflected her toughness

Jayalalithaa’s iron lady image reflected in the way she protected the state’s interest in water disputes, be it Cauvery or Mullaperiyar. Knowing well, the people’s emotional connect with water related issues and its political impact on Tamil Nadu, she kept the state’s legal team as well as bureaucrats on their toes whenever the dispute came up in tribunal, court or before the Central government, fondly recalled state officials negotiating water issues. 

Jayalalithaa never left the issue to be handled by her ministers or aides. Instead, she herself used to pursue the case aggressively, realising a minor slip would be exploited by her political opponents to instigate people against her regime. To achieve that, she kept every movement of officials negotiating in Delhi under the shadow of her state intelligence spies, said an official who worked in her regime.  When she was admitted to Apollo Hospitals in September due to ill health, she did not allow her failing health to upstage sensitivities on water sharing concerns, said a senior state officer. 

She even held a meeting with officials at the hospital and gave precise directions on how the state should argue its case on the Cauvery issue. This was to prepare her team to put its best foot forward during a meeting Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti convened with the chief ministers of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka on sharing of water on September 29.    

“She was quick in taking decisions. She knew what the state wanted and advised the officials accordingly to pursue it,” said another officer who was working in the Tamil Nadu government. 

She never stuck to a particular advocate for long to argue on Cauvery, rather she would always change them, said the official. Among the directions to them was to remain away from the media since Jayalalithaa was of the view that no news was good news as far as reporting water disputes were concerned.