BJP leaders hold protest against Karnataka government over Cauvery water release

BENGALURU: BJP leaders held a protest against the Congress government in the state over Cauvery water release to Tamil Nadu, in Bengaluru on Wednesday. The protesters raised slogans against CM Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM D K Shivakumar and called them agents of Tamil Nadu and DMK.

Former CM B S Yediyurappa staged a sit-in against the Karnataka government over the Cauvery water-sharing issue near the Gandhi statue in Bengaluru today.

Yediyurappa said, “Our CM Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, they must know, that they should not behave like Tamil Nadu agents. They must realise the actual facts. In almost all our reservoirs there is no water at all and it is not sufficient for even drinking purposes… PM can’t interfere in this, the case is in the Supreme Court. It’s not possible for him to interfere…”

Yediyurappa further said that the CM and Water Resources Minister D K Shivakumar were behaving like Tamil Nadu agents so Karnataka was facing the crisis.

JD(S) leader and former CM H D Kumaraswamy too joined the protest against the Karnataka government on the Cauvery water sharing issue in Bengaluru.

Addressing the protest, Kumaraswamy said, “The state government has failed in safeguarding the interests of the farmers. They are now playing with the lives of farmers of the state. That’s why both JD(S) and BJP are protesting”.

BJP Member of Parliament from Bangalore South Tejasvi Surya said that Karnataka must stop water that is being released to Tamil Nadu.

“The Karnataka government has completely failed in putting forth proper details to the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) committee. Showing fingers towards to central govt is not going to work. Central official work has been done. Now it is in the hands of authorities and the Supreme Court” he said.

BJP MLA B Y Vijayendra Yediyurappa said, “The present Congress government has not taken the Cauvery issue seriously. Farmers are literally on the streets and day by day the water is flowing to Tamil Nadu. The state government has completely failed in fulfilling its responsibility. The question of PM intervening in this issue does not rise because it is your (present Congress government) failure…”

Responding to the protests by the BJP, Home Minister G Parameshwara said that the state government was capable of dealing with the issue. “As a government we have some responsibilities, let them do their politics on the Cauvery issue. The government will take care of our farmers”, he said.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has said that the state will challenge the order of the Cauvery Water Regulatory Committee in the Supreme Court.

“The Cauvery Water Regulatory Committee (CWRC) has ordered to release 3,000 cusecs of water, I have already spoken to our advocates and they have suggested us to challenge this order in the Supreme Court. We will challenge it in the Supreme Court. We don’t have water to release to Tamil Nadu”, the Chief Minister said.

The CWRC had ordered Karnataka to ensure the release of 3,000 cusecs of Cauvery water at Biligundlu starting from September 28 till October 15, 2023. The amount of water to be released was earlier 5,000 cusecs. (ANI)