Mahadayi row: Political leaders decide to put up united face

The issue whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi should intervene in resolving the Mahadayi water dispute surfaced again at an all-party meeting in Bengaluru on Sunday.

The meeting, however, concluded on a note that all parties need to be united and legal recourse was the best option.

The meeting was convened by the state government to discuss the state’s stand following the Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal recently rejecting the Karnataka’s interim plea seeking diversion of 7 tmcft of water from the Mahadayi river to improve drinking water supply to four districts of North Karnataka.

At the meeting, a section of Congress members of  Parliament and legislators are learnt to have stated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention had become the need of the hour for an out-of-the-court settlement of the dispute.

They felt the Karnataka BJP leaders could talk to their counterparts in the BJP-ruled states of Maharashtra and Goa so that consensus could emerge, paving way for Modi to intervene.

However, BJP leader Jagadish Shettar is leant to have told them that the state government should focus on fighting the legal battle rather then seeking the prime minister’s intervention.

‘Unity required’
JD(S) state president H D Kumaraswamy is said to have told the meeting to put up a united face. He said that the recent spat between Chikkodi MP Prakash Hukkeri of the Congress and Belagavi MP Suresh Angadi (BJP) on the Mahadayi issue in the Lok Sabha had portrayed the state in a poor light.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah agreed that unity among all parties on the Mahadayi issue was the need of the hour and the state should stick to legal recourse to resolve the dispute.