Janata Dal (Secular) president H.D. Deve Gowda broke down in front of TV cameras at a press conference here on Friday reacting to the Supreme Court order to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu.
Vowing to take up the issue in New Delhi, Mr. Gowda said that he will seek the intervention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday to “end the injustice” against the farmers of the State.
He said that the Supreme Court order has come as a “big blow” to farmers in Mandya and demanded that the Union government compensate them for the crop loss. He also said that if his demands are not met, he will fast unto death. He said that he will raise the issue in Parliament.
“I will appeal to the leadership in New Delhi based on the facts of the case. If all else fails, I will fast to death,” he said.
As he was giving “details of the oversights” in the order, Mr. Deve Gowda was suddenly overcome with emotion and broke down saying his heart went out to the struggling farmers of the State in the Cauvery basin.
“This injustice has been done to our farmers for the last 120 years,” he said as party workers rushed to comfort him.
Countering charges that he was raking up the Cauvery issue after all was lost for the sake of petty political gain, Mr. Deve Gowda said, “I have been fighting the Cauvery cause since 1964. At this stage in my life I don’t need to play petty politics.”
Taking a dig at Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, Mr. Deve Gowda said that he should not have released water from the Krishnarajasagar dam in the wake of the Supreme Court order.
