Accusing the BJP State leadership of stooping to a new low over the sharing of the Mahadayi waters, Water Resources Minister M.B. Patil has alleged that the party is blaming the Congress government for the impasse as it has failed to convince Prime Minister Narendra Modi to of the need to intervene in the matter.
Addressing presspersons here on Tuesday, he said that the BJP’s State leadership could not convince Mr. Modi to call a meeting of the riparian States of Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra to find an amicable solution to the dispute.
The farmers of Dharwad and Belagavi were the worst affected owing to the delay in finding a solution to the dispute, Mr. Patil said. He alleged that the BJP was only trying to deceive the people by spreading canards on the issue.
Referring to the recent letter of Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti in which she had said that the Centre would not intervene in the matter as the case was before the Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal and Maharashtra and Goa had not shown interest in an out-of-tribunal settlement, the Minister said that it was only an excuse to run away from the responsibility.
He claimed that previous governments at the Centre had tried to solve water sharing disputes amicably even when the matter was sub-judice. Mr. Patil said that even if the Chief Ministers of Goa and Maharashtra did not seek the intervention of the Union government, the Prime Minister could call for a consultation meeting. To a question, he said that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah would again write to the Prime Minister to intervene in the matter in the interests of farmers.
Mr. Patil said that if the BJP was concerned about the people, it should try to convince the Prime Minister to intervene in the matter to find out an immediate, lasting and amicable solution instead of playing a blame game.
‘Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will again write to the PM to intervene in the matter’
