Jayalalithaa should have accepted PM’s ruling on Cauvery: Karunanidhi

DMK president M. Karunanidhi on Saturday said Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s decision to reject the ruling of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, directing Karnataka to release 9,000 cusecs of water daily until mid-October, would amount to expressing lack of trust in the Cauvery River Authority.

In a statement here, he said though Karnataka had refused to release water, Tamil Nadu should have accepted the ruling for now and demanded more. “Or, the Chief Minister could have said she would approach the Supreme Court for more water. But, her rejection of the Prime Minister’s ruling is tantamount to expressing lack of faith in the CRA.”

He said while the Karnataka Government had convened an all-party meeting before taking any decision on the issue, there was no such exercise in Tamil Nadu.

Mr. Karunanidhi also came down on the State for it decision to demolish the Anna Arch in Chennai and its subsequent plan to retain the structure, saying that while it had cost only Rs. 8 lakh for demolition work, the government had spent Rs. 80 lakh for keeping the structure intact. He said though media had carried reports about the demolition, the Chief Minister woke up to the issue much later and issued orders for stopping the demolition.

The DMK leader said power cuts in Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Salem and Namakkal districts had touched 14 hours a day and industries, farmers and students had been affected.

He said though the crisis could be overcome by getting electricity from states with surplus power production, the Chief Minister, who had gone to New Delhi for the CRA meeting, did not discuss the issue to seek more electricity allocation from the Central pool.