Opposition leader M.K. Stalin on Thursday reiterated his demand that the AIADMK MPs move a no-confidence motion against the Centre seeking immediate constitution of the Cauvery Management Board and the Cauvery Water Regulatory Committee.
Responding to Mr. Stalin, Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam stood by his position and urged him to be patient as there were still a few days left for the expiry of the Supreme Court deadline for drawing up a ‘scheme’.
“We can all talk again and see how best we can pressure the Central government to set up the CMB and CWRC,” he said.
Raising the issue during a calling attention motion, Mr. Stalin said the Union Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari, in an interview, had said there was no need to form the CMB in six weeks.
The Secretary of the Union Water Ministry has openly said there was nothing about the CMB in the Cauvery verdict.
Therefore, like Andhra Pradesh that has moved a no-confidence motion against the Centre, the AIADMK should to put pressure on the Centre [seeking special status for the State], the AIADMK government should move a similar motion through its MPs, he demanded. Also, the government should take steps to file contempt of court proceedings if the Centre failed to set up the CMB, he demanded.
In reply, the Deputy Chief Minister said the SC verdict was clear about setting up of the CMB and the CWRC. The AIADMK MPs have already stalled Parliament for the past 13 days, he said, asking the Opposition to be patient till March 29.
On Mr. Stalin’s objections to the Terms of Reference of the 15th Finance Commission, Mr. Panneerselvam, who holds the Finance portfolio, said the government also saw inclusion of certain sections as a wrong precedent.
The State government would seek the removal of the controversial portions and stress on equitable distribution of Central tax revenue at every possible opportunity, Mr. Panneerselvam assured.
‘BJP fuelling tension’
Meanwhile, in a statement issued in connection with the DMK’s conference scheduled for March 24 and 25, Mr. Stalin called upon his party men to defeat the AIADMK and the BJP.
“In the land of Periyar, the government has allowed the Ram Rajya Rath Yatra. The statues of Periyar are vandalised and the government has surrendered before the Centre. The BJP government is fuelling the communal fire,” he charged.
He said the conference had prepared itself for a political change and the resolutions to be adopted in the conference would turn the attention of the country. “The exhibition organised in connection with the conference has already received a lot of visitors. It has given them an idea about the conditions of their forefathers in the Tamil society and how the Dravidian movement turned around the life for them,” Mr. Stalin said.
