Cauvery is more important than Haveri for us: Venkaiah

On the release of Cauvery waters to Tamil Nadu, Mr Naidu warned the Congress in Karnataka against politicising the issue and also blaming the government for the crisis

December 09, 2012 09:12 am | Updated June 15, 2016 06:21 pm IST - BANGALORE:

BJP National leader Venkaiah Naidu addressing the press and media in Bangalore on Saturday. Photo:K.Gopinathan

BJP National leader Venkaiah Naidu addressing the press and media in Bangalore on Saturday. Photo:K.Gopinathan

“Cauvery [crisis over water-sharing] is more important than Haveri [rally organised by B.S. Yeddyurappa] for people of the State as well as the BJP.” This is how the BJP former president M. Venkaiah Naidu remarked on Saturday, indirectly trying to downplay Mr. Yeddyurappa’s rally on Sunday.

He was addressing a press conference here.

Mr. Naidu desisted from answering questions on the party’s stand with respect to the rally.

‘Ideology-based party’

“We are an ideology-based political party. We appeal to all those who believe in BJP ideology to remain in the party fold,” he said, replying to queries on how the party would politically tackle the Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP), which will be led by Mr. Yeddyurappa.

Indirectly trying to send a message that the organisation was more important than individuals, Mr. Naidu said: “We do not go by personalities. We will go to the people, explain to them the party ideology and the good work done by the government, and try to convince them to support us.”

He said all national leaders would do their bit to strengthen the party in Karnataka. The BJP government had done well, and despite this a wrong message was going to people because of the party’s internal problems. This had to be tackled.

Disciplinary action

To a question if disciplinary action was being planned against MLAs attending the Haveri rally, Mr. Naidu said he wanted to wait till Sunday before replying to that.

On the release of Cauvery waters to Tamil Nadu, the BJP leader warned the Congress in Karnataka against politicising the issue and also blaming the government for the crisis.

‘Sensitive issue’

“It is a sensitive issue; if you blame the State government, then there will be more accusations against you. After all, it is the Prime Minister who took the decision as chairman of the Cauvery River Authority chairman to release water. Therefore, the Congress should convince the Prime Minister to provide justice to Karnataka instead of criticising us,” Mr. Naidu said.

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