If Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar was really honest towards finding a solution to the Mahadayi row, he should have filed an affidavit before the Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal (MWDT) instead of writing a letter to the BJP State unit President B.S. Yeddyurappa, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said here on Monday.
Speaking to presspersons before leaving for Laxmeshwar in Gadag district for a programme, Mr. Siddaramaiah said the tribunal had suggested mediation among the riparian States. “To achieve that, the three Chief Ministers should sit together and discuss. Can Mr. Yeddyurappa come there for discussion?”, he asked.
“Suppose, they don’t want to discuss. In 2002, the Central government had consented to use of 7.56 tmc ft. water for drinking purpose and our claim is the same. Instead of writing to Mr. Yeddyurappa, Mr. Parrikar should have filed an affidavit before the tribunal consenting for the same”.
ADVERTISEMENT
On the contention of Mr. Yeddyurappa and Leader of Opposition Jagadish Shettar that Mr. Parrikar’s letter should be placed before the Tribunal, Mr. Siddaramaiah said while he had practised law, Mr. Yeddyurappa didn’t know much about law. Although an advocate Mr. Shettar had never practised law, he said.
On criticism by Mr. Shettar that the Chief Minister was touring North Karnataka because of the forthcoming elections, Mr. Siddaramaiah sought to know what was the contribution of Mr. Shettar, who hailed from the region, to North Karnataka.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
On the controversy surrounding the formation of committee to look into the Lingayat issue, he said there were five representations before him including the one by seers of Pancha Peethas. “Veerashaiva Mahasabha wanted independent religion status for Veerashaiva-Lingayat, while seers of Virakta Mutt, Mate Mahadevi and Lingayat leaders including those in his Cabinet wanted independent religion status for Lingayta Dharma. The Pancha Peethas too have submitted a representation saying that they are Hindus belonging to an ancient religion and they don’t want independent religion status”, he said adding that as a Chief Minister, he had forwarded the representations to the Minorities Commission for perusal and he was not making any attempt to divide the community.
Clarifying that it was the Commission that had formed experts’ committee and not him, he asked presspersons not to give much importance to Mr. Shettar on the issue. He also said that Basavanna was not restricted to the Lingayat caste. Basavanna was for a casteless and classless society.
‘Constitution cannot be changed for casteists’
Retorting to Union Minister Ananthkumar Hegde’s comments about modifying the Constitution, Mr. Siddaramaiah said the Constitution framed by B.R. Ambedkar could not be changed for the sake of ‘casteists’. He said Mr. Hegde had no respect for the Constitution. “In the Constitution we have said we will create a secular nation. There are people belonging to different religions and castes. Creation of “Hindu Rashtra’ is not possible. All the 125 crore people in the country are Indians and we can’t glorify one particular religion. All religions have to be treated equally.”
The Chief Minister said Mr. Hegde did not have the least knowledge about the Constitution.
On allegations about public money being used for ‘party conventions’, Mr. Siddaramaiah clarified that the money was being spent for government programmes and he had only replied to political comments of other political leaders in those programmes.