Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said here on Wednesday that Kerala was not against Tamil Nadu or its interests on the Mullaperiyar issue.
Replying to questions from the media after the weekly Cabinet meeting, the Chief Minister said that Kerala was not opposed to giving water to Tamil Nadu from Mullaperiyar. It did not want any quarrel with Tamil Nadu in that respect.
However, Tamil Nadu has to accept that the dam built under the 117-year-old agreement could not stand for ever.
As there were safety concerns, it should agree to replacing the old dam with a new one.
Mr. Chandy said that the stand of his government and the previous government was the same on the issue.
His statement comes a day after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention on the issue. Kerala's response was how the Prime Minister could intervene now as the matter was before the Supreme Court.
The Court has set up an empowered committee to look into the safety and other aspects of the issue.
