PM has time for Baluchistan, no time to Meet CM in Cauvery Row – Ivan

PM has time for Baluchistan, no time to Meet CM in Cauvery Row, SC order is Dying Declaration for Farmers in Cauvery Water – Ivan D’Souza

Mangaluru: The Prime minister has the time to attend a wedding in Pakistan, time to solve the problems of Baluchistan but he does not have time to give an appointment to the chief minister of Karnataka to discuss and find a solution for the Cauvery water problem, said chief whip of Karnataka Legislative Council Ivan D’Souza in a press meet held at his office, MCC premises Lalbagh here on September 25.

Addressing the mediapersons Ivan said, “The supreme court has given the interim order to release water to Tamil Nadu. But in the Legislative session, all the party leaders have decided that it is not possible to release the water as the state itself is facing a severe shortage of drinking water. The river Cauvery contains little water which is not enough for Karnataka, so it is not possible to release water to Tamil Nadu for agriculture. We have decided that we do not have enough water for the people of the state. This is a unanimous decision from leaders of all the parties. Meanwhile, the prime minister is not showing any interest to solve the problem. In the federal system of government, the Prime minister is the head and he should take the lead to solve the problems. The BJP leaders say that the Prime minister will not intervene on the Cauvery water issue. How do the BJP leaders know that the PM will not intervene? The Prime minister has not given any statement on the Cauvery issue until now, then how come the BJP leaders know about this. The silence of PM and the attitude of BJP leaders is suspicious, they are trying to destabilize the State government.

Ivan further said, “In the state when we faced the water problems we had called for special meetings five times on the decision of the tribunal, but during this critical situation, where the interim order cannot be fulfilled, the prime minister is not showing any interest. The problems of Karnataka state are not related to him, In the federal system Prime minister is the head. Chief minister Siddaramaiah has written 8 letters seeking an appointment with the Prime minister to discuss the Cauvery water issue but without success. When our state is facing severe drinking water problems the Tamil Nadu government is asking water for agriculture and the PM is not bothered to intervene in this matter”.

Ivan also stressed that the Prime minister has time to solve the problems in Baluchistan, without invitation the PM has time to attend a wedding in a foreign country and eat Biryani. But when there is a problem in Karnataka state, he is unable to address the issue. We have three MP’s from our state in the center, why are they quiet? When there is a problem in the state, it is the duty of the MPs to discuss it in the center and convince the prime minister to intervene.

The Cauvery water problem is not new, when other ministers were in power they had released the water, but now when we do not have enough water to drink, how can we release water for Tamil Nadu for agriculture. The problem of water shortage is the problem of the country. The supreme court order is a dying declaration for the farmers of our state. During this critical situation, MPs of our state have failed to convince the prime minister, this is a preplan to destabilize the state government.

The state MPs do not have the courage to go to the prime minister and convince him. Advocate Nariman has complete knowledge of the water crisis. When there is a loss in the crop it can be claimed under the Bhima yojana but for drinking water, there is no any scheme. We are only asking for an appointment with our PM to discuss the Cauvery water issue. Why is the PM not ready to give an appointment to our CM to meet him, questioned Ivan.