<p class="bodytext">Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday said the state is not in a position to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu as there is insufficient storage in its reservoirs.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Reacting to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami's letter seeking release of Cauvery water, Siddaramaiah said, "We do not have water. How can we supply to them? It is not possible to release water to Tamil Nadu."</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I hope the Tamil Nadu government will understand the ground reality as Karnataka has not received sufficient rainfall for the past several years," he said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Siddaramaiah was in the national capital to attend a meeting called by Congress president Rahul Gandhi.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The hearing on the Cauvery water dispute is scheduled for next month. "We expect a favourable order," Siddaramaiah added.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Last week, the Supreme Court had indicated that it would deliver within a month its verdict on the decades-old Cauvery water sharing dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, saying enough confusion had been created on it for over two decades.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The Tamil Nadu government earlier demanded that Karnataka release at least 15 tmcft of Cauvery water for saving its crops.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Palaniswami demanded an immediate release of 7 tmcft of water and the balance within a fortnight from the existing storage.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He said the storage in Mettur reservoir in Salem district, which caters to the Cauvery delta region, as on January 12 was a "meagre" 21.27 tmcft even as the utilisable storage there was 16.27 tmcft.</p>
<p class="bodytext">Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday said the state is not in a position to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu as there is insufficient storage in its reservoirs.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Reacting to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami's letter seeking release of Cauvery water, Siddaramaiah said, "We do not have water. How can we supply to them? It is not possible to release water to Tamil Nadu."</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I hope the Tamil Nadu government will understand the ground reality as Karnataka has not received sufficient rainfall for the past several years," he said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Siddaramaiah was in the national capital to attend a meeting called by Congress president Rahul Gandhi.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The hearing on the Cauvery water dispute is scheduled for next month. "We expect a favourable order," Siddaramaiah added.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Last week, the Supreme Court had indicated that it would deliver within a month its verdict on the decades-old Cauvery water sharing dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, saying enough confusion had been created on it for over two decades.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The Tamil Nadu government earlier demanded that Karnataka release at least 15 tmcft of Cauvery water for saving its crops.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Palaniswami demanded an immediate release of 7 tmcft of water and the balance within a fortnight from the existing storage.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He said the storage in Mettur reservoir in Salem district, which caters to the Cauvery delta region, as on January 12 was a "meagre" 21.27 tmcft even as the utilisable storage there was 16.27 tmcft.</p>