The Karnataka government took the decision to stop releasing Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu on Monday, due to the scarcity of water and as a mark of protest against the Cauvery River Authority’s (CRA) directive, said Deputy Chief Minister K S Eshwarappa.

“The State could implement the CRA directive as long as water was available in the basin. Now, we can’t,” he said. As informed by the State’s counsel Nariman to the Supreme Court, the State was not in a position to release water as the reservoir does not have enough, Eshwarappa told Deccan Herald while commenting on the issue after the Supreme Court deferred the hearing to October 12.

“The Supreme Court did not raise any objections to the submission made by the State. So, we presume that the court has stood by us,” he said.

Firm decision

The BJP state unit president, in a press release, said that the State government has taken a
good and firm decision. The State conveyed its decision orally to the court, he said.

The State MPs who are ministers in the UPA Cabinet should pressure the Prime Minister to immediately convene the CRA meeting to understand the ground reality in the Cauvery basin, he said.