We have exhausted talks option on Mahadayi: Siddu

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday said that there was no scope for Karnataka holding talks with the chief ministers of Goa and Maharashtra with regard to Mahadayi and that the issue can be resolved only if Prime Minister Narendra Modi intervenes.

Speaking to reporters here on Friday Siddaramaiah said, After the talks with both the governments on Mahadayi failed to yield the desired results, the matter went before Supreme Court. So, the government was looking for Modi’s intervention.

Attacking the State BJP leaders for alleging that the Congress had instigated violence, he said, “Why would the government want to disrupt law and order in the State? The BJP should stop politicising the issue,” he added.

Minister for Water Resources M B Patil said, “We have already appealed to the prime minister, and we are confident that there will be a positive outcome. The government will wait for a month, after which a decision will be arrived at,” he added. He also said that Modi’s ‘political statements’ during the recent meeting had ‘hurt’ Siddaramaiah’s sentiments.

“As a federal head it was wrong on Modi’s part to advise Siddaramaiah to convince the Congress leaders in Goa and Maharashtra first,” he added. Reacting to the BJP’s allegations against the Congress, he said that his party would not stoop so low, and that it wasn’t the party’s culture. He also said that the officials concerned were directed to release water from the reservoirs for irrigation purposes only after adequate water was stored to meet drinking water needs of the State.