Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore   

Deshpande questions setting up of CRA

By Our Special Correspondent

Bangalore Oct. 9. For the first time perhaps, a Cabinet Minister, R.V. Deshpande (Large and Medium-scale Industries) has questioned the very setting up of the Cauvery River Authority (CRA) four years ago.

Mr. Deshpande has attacked the constitution of the CRA as a great injustice done to Karnataka, and noted that it was the Janata Parivar which was responsible for its creation.

His criticism has come while hitting out at the Opposition parties for calling the Chief Minister, S.M. Krishna's "padayatra" political.

In the last four years, there is hardly any instance of a political leader in the State, not to speak of a minister, criticising the CRA.

Mr. Deshpande, a former Janata Dal minister, was critical of the decision announced by the former Prime Minister, H.D. Deve Gowda, to take out a "yatra" in the Cauvery Basin districts. When he was the Prime Minister, he failed to solve the Cauvery dispute. Now, Mr. Gowda's party, JD(S), had entered into an alliance with Ms. Jayalalithaa's AIADMK. When he was the Chief Minister, Mr. Gowda released six tmcft. of water from the Cauvery catchment area to Tamil Nadu.

It was surprising that Mr. Gowda was calling the Chief Minister's "padayatra" politically motivated.

Mr. Deshpande said that the JD(U) leaders, C. Byre Gowda and P.G.R. Sindhia, were making a futile attempt to search for the political reasons behind the "padayatra".

He alleged that the BJP leaders were indulging in double speak. They said one thing at the all-party meetings and another in public.

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