Many taken into custody ahead of Kerala-TN CMs talks

Nearly 25 people who arrived in the city to protest against the high-profile meeting between the chief ministers of Kerala and Tamil Nadu have been taken into preventive custody, police said.

"We received intelligence inputs about a group of people planning to stage a protest during the meetingof two chief ministers. We found two vehicles (in the city) with 25 people and took them into preventive custody," the investigating officer told PTI.

Those arrested claimed that they belong to a Tamil Nadu-based river water retrieval committee and have come to Thiruvananthapuram to submit a memorandum to both the chief ministers with regard to river-water sharing issue.

Investigationis going on, police said. Meanwhile, a delegation led by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami reached the state capital at 12 noon to hold discussions on various inter-state water sharing issues including the Parambikulam-Aliyar Project (PAP) with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

"The discussion will include Parambikulam project, Anamalai, Pandiyar-Punnapuzha, Pamba Achankovil diversion and many more. We will discuss the water-sharing agreements between the states," Water Resources Minister K Krishnankutty had said.