Cauvery water: All eyes on Sumalatha for her stand

All eyes in the district are set on Sumalatha Ambareesh, the newly elected member of Parliament from Mandya Lok Sabha an Independent, to know how she handles Cauvery water issue.

On Tuesday, the Cauvery Water Management Authority ordered Karnataka to release 9.19 tmcft of water for the month of June from the Biligundlu reservoir to the Mettur Dam in Tamil Nadu. Moreover, farmers in the region have been seeking Cauvery Neeravari Nigam authorities to release water so save their crops in the last one month.

Sumalatha, who is yet to take oath as an MP, will lead a programme on Wednesday to celebrate her victory organised on the occasion of birth anniversary of her husband Ambareesh.

There will be blood donation and health checkup camps. A procession will be taken out up to Kalikamba temple. Actors Yash, Darshan, Doddanna, producer Rockline Venkatesh and Abhishek Gowda will participate. A book on Ambareesh will be released.

It now seems to be inevitable for the new MP to announce her stand on releasing water from Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) dam into the canals as demanded by farmers. Meanwhile, JD(S) legislators are targeting Sumalatha using the opportunity. They want her to take up responsibility of releasing the water. Recently, Srirangapatna MLA Ravindra Srikantaiah sought measures from her to release the water from the dam.

There is much curiosity to know how Sumalatha reacts on Wednesday.