Cauvery: DMK tells BJP not to make TN protest zone for election gains in Karnataka

Chennai/ Bengaluru: The DMK on Tuesday flayed the ruling BJP at the Centre on the Cauvery issue, saying it should not handle the matter with an eye on “electoral gains” in poll-bound Karnataka, the upper riparian state in the river water sharing dispute.

“The Prime Minister maintaining silence on the Cauvery issue by not speaking about it when he came to Tamil Nadu… is condemnable,” M K Stalin, Leader of the Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, said in a tweet.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had attended the launch of the state government’s ‘Amma scooter scheme’ here on Saturday.

At that time, Chief Minister K Palaniswami had urged him to expedite the formation of the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) and the Cauvery Water Regulatory Committee as per the directions of the Supreme Court.

Delivering its verdict on the inter-state dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka recently, the apex court had reduced the latter’s share of the river water by 14.75 tmcft.

The BJP had acted in “haste” on the issue of National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test in Tamil Nadu, Stalin said in an apparent reference to the stiff resistance to the test in the state.

The BJP should not adopt a similar approach vis-a-vis Cauvery, he added.

“The CMB should be constituted within six weeks. Don’t make Tamil Nadu a protest zone for electoral gains in Karnataka,” Stalin said in another tweet.