Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Wednesday reiterated that the State government had been making “all-out efforts” to secure Cauvery water.
When asked by journalists in New Delhi why he did not meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi separately to press the State’s demand on the issue, the Chief Minister said he had come there only to attend a meeting on the 150th birth anniversary celebration of Mahatma Gandhi. Besides, “it would not be proper for me” to meet the Prime Minister alone when requests were made repeatedly with Mr. Modi’s office for a meeting beween him and a delegation of leaders of all parties and farmers’ organisations, he said.
Mr. Palaniswami pointed out that when Mr. Modi visited Chennai recently, he had highlighted the Cauvery issue and reminded the PM about the request for appointment.
Earlier, taking part in the meeting on the Gandhi birth anniversary celebration, the CM suggested that the ‘Gandhi Green Earth Award’ be instituted, along the lines of the Nobel Prize, and dhotis and sarees be distributed free of cost to the poor on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanthi. He wanted the Gandhigram Rural Institute, now a deemed university, to be upgraded as a Central University and the creation of a Centre of Eminence for Rural Development and Gandhian Philosophy. The CM sought additional funds for the Gandhi Memorial Museum in Madurai, which houses rare artefacts.
