BJP to persuade Centre not to set up Cauvery board
Belagavi/Hubballi (DHNS: BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa on Sunday said that the party would ensure fullest cooperation from the Centre and see to it that the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) is not formed.
Addressing reporters in Belagavi on the eve of the two-day BJP state executive committee meeting beginning on Monday, Yeddyurappa said the party was totally opposed to the establishment of CMB.
In Hubballi, leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, Jagadish Shettar, said as per section 6 (7) of the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, it was mandatory to take Parliament’s nod for setting up CMB.
Yeddyurappa said that though the special legislature session on the Cauvery issue and the party’s executive meeting were on the same day (Monday), the BJP legislators would participate in the special session. They would express their unanimous support to the government to safeguard the interest of the state, he added.
To a query on whether the BJP would press for calling a special legislature session on the Mahadayi issue also, Shettar said the two were different issues and it was not fair to draw a parallel between the Mahadayi and the Cauvery issues.
Making it clear that the BJP would not try to destabilise the Congress government using the Cauvery issue, Shettar said, “The BJP will not try to fish in the troubled waters. All the BJP MLAs are even ready to go to jail, if the Supreme Court files a contempt of court case against the Karnataka government for violating its order in Cauvery issue,” he added.
Yeddyurappa and Shettar urged the state government to immediately replace the entire legal team headed by senior counsel Fali Nariman which is handling the Cauvery river water dispute case with legal experts who are committed to the state’s interest.
Nariman had said that he would not be arguing before the Supreme Court and also there was no option for the government but to release water. Justice can’t be expected from such a legal team led by Nariman. During the all-party meeting on Saturday, the Opposition categorically demanded the replacement of the legal team, Yeddyurappa said.
PM calls up Gowda
JD(S) supremo and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda said he received a telephone call from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday morning.
He said they discussed the Cauvery crisis for some time, but refused to divulge more. “I can only say that I am confident that Prime Minister Modi will render justice to the people of Karnataka”, Gowda said, reports DHNS from Bengaluru. Union Minister for Statistics and Programme Implementation D V Sadandanda Gowda said Modi can’t intervene in the Cauvery crisis directly as the independence of the judiciary can’t be encroached upon by the executive.