Stating the it was not possible for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene in the Cauvery water dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka as the matter is before the apex court, Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman accused Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of playing politics over the issue.
Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers Ananth Kumar reiterated the same line and said it was not possible for Mr. Modi to intervene. The two Ministers were speaking at different programmes in the city and their comments come in the backdrop of Mr. Siddaramaiah seeking an appointment from the Prime Minister, and asking for a meeting to be convened between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka by Mr. Modi.
Ms. Sitharaman took exception to Mr. Siddaramaiah accusing Mr. Modi of showing an indifferent attitude towards the State government’s plea to convene a meeting of Chief Ministers to discuss the sharing of the Cauvery waters. Speaking to media persons before the executive committee of the State BJP Mahila Morcha here, she said it was improper on the part of Mr. Siddaramaiah to seek Mr. Modi’s intervention since the matter was before the apex court. The Congress has been unnecessarily trying to drag the Prime Minister in the ongoing Cauvery dispute, which can be resolved only through a legal fight, she said.
Mr. Ananth Kumar, who met those receiving treatment at the Victoria Hospital in the lathi-charge in Bengaluru on September 12, alleged that the Congress has been politicising the Cauvery issue. The dispute between the two States has to be resolved within constitutional limits and the Prime Minister’s intervention was not the solution, he maintained. In the federal set up, it was not good on the part of the State government to seek Mr. Modi’s intervention now, as the matter is to come up for hearing before the Supreme Court on September 20, he said.
State BJP president B.S. Yeddyurappa alleged that it was an attempt by the State government to divert people’s attention from its “abject failures”, and the State had to try to get justice through the legal fight. Mr. Siddaramaiah had written a few times to Mr. Modi appealing him to chair a meeting of Chief Ministers in a bid to reach an out-of-court settlement.
