Joining issue with AIADMK general secretary and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa on her criticism on the Cauvery issue, DMK president M. Karunanidhi on Wednesday claimed that even the Tribunal set up to solve the inter-State dispute was done following the DMK’s efforts.
“For the first time, it was the DMK government which had written to Centre in February 1970 seeking constitution of the Cauvery Tribunal. A resolution was passed in the Assembly in July 1971 (for the same demand),” he said.
Writing in party mouthpiece Murasoli a day after Ms. Jayalalithaa accepted his challenge for an open debate on the Cauvery issue, Mr. Karunanidhi said an all-party meeting in 1989 had demanded the formation of the Tribunal but the AIADMK had not participated.
Boycott of the meeting showed Ms. Jayalalithaa’s “interest” in constituting the Tribunal, he said.
Later, when V.P. Singh became Prime Minister, he once again raised the demand and the Tribunal was subsequently formed in 1990 when he was Chief Minister, Mr. Karunanidhi said.
While the interim award of the Cauvery Tribunal was published in a Central gazette in 1991 when Ms. Jayalalithaa came to power “no effort was taken for its implementation” till the end of the AIADMK regime, he said.
He recalled that Ms. Jayalalithaa had even termed the 2007 final award of the Tribunal as “unacceptable”, but is now claiming as if she only strived for publishing it in Central gazette, he said in response to Ms. Jayalalithaa’s repeated charge that the DMK government’s “betrayals” on Cauvery included not pushing for its publication in the gazette despite being in power.
