All party emergency meet on Cauvery dispute today

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has convened an emergency all-party meeting on Wednesday to discuss the Cauvery water dispute, especially in the wake of the state being asked to release 5,000 cusecs daily to Tamil Nadu.

This will be the second all-party meeting in less than a month's time. The last one was held on August 23.

Wednesday's meeting will have Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, ministers from the Cauvery basin, former chief ministers, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members.

Earlier, Shivakumar said Karnataka has decided not to release water to Tamil Nadu.

"The Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) has recommended releasing 5,000 cusecs to Tamil Nadu daily. We've said clearly that we don't have water," Shivakumar, the Water Resources minister, said.

"The Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) is likely to meet on Wednesday or Thursday. We will make our stand clear," Shivakumar said.

On Tuesday evening, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah chaired an emergency meeting with Shivakumar, Agriculture Minister N Chaluvarayaswamy and other senior functionaries of the government.

"I have discussed with the CM. We've decided that we cannot release water anymore," Shivakumar said.

The minister said that Tamil Nadu demanded 12,000 cusec. "They've reduced it to 5,000 cusecs. Our first priority is drinking water and then farmers. We were hopeful when it started raining in Bengaluru. But now, we're in distress," he said.