DMK against revamp of Cauvery water tribunal

The DMK chief M Karunanidhi today did a volte face on his party's stand on the transfer of Tamil Nadu Governor PS Rammohan Rao by denying reports that the DMK had been asking for the change of the governor.

He was speaking after a meeting with Tamil MPs of the DMK-led Democratic Progressive Alliance (DPA) in Chennai toady.

Karunanidhi had issued statements just a few days ago condemning Rao for going to the Athens Olympics instead of hosting tea for freedom fighters on the Independence Day. The DMK chief had also criticised the AIADMK for approaching President APJ Abdul Kalam with a petition to oppose the transfer of the governor, alleging that move "totally exposed" their politics.

He had said Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had consulted Rao on approaching the President to oppose the demand for his transfer, speaking off a war of words between the two leaders.

Karunanidhi's statement comes as surprise in the face of information that the DMK has been pressurizing the central government to remove Rao as he perceived to be close to Jayalalithaa.

The two-hour long meeting was attended by Union Ministers P Chidambaram, TR Baalu and Dayanidhi Maaran other than leaders from the DMK, the PMK, the MDMK and the Left parties. Mani Shankar Aiyar, Anbumani Ramadoss and EVKS Elangovan could not be present at the meeting due to prior engagements.

The meeting saw the MPs opposing the move by Karnataka to get the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal reconstituted.

"The Centre should not make any efforts to reconstitute the tribunal as it would affect the interests of Tamil Nadu farmers," Karunanidhi said. The MPs passed a resolution demanding that the Centre protect the rights of the Cauvery Delta farmers to irrigation facilities.

A seven-member committee of MPs was formed during the meeting to take up Tamil Nadu's demands with the Centre.

The committee, to be headed C Kuppusamy, DMK members of Parliament, will bring up the implementation of 11 projects including the a high-tech industrial park at Nunguneri, rail gauge conversion projects, an international port at Kolechal, establishment of a maritime trade university at Chennai, upgradation of the Chennai Airport to the Delhi and Mumbai airport standards, creation of the southern regional natural gas grid and setting up of a natural gas terminal at the Ennore Port.

Other issues discussed at the meeting were the linking of peninsular rivers and protection for Indian fishermen in Kachathivu, as enshrined in the agreement between India and Sri Lanka. Karunanidhi also said a government order, declaring Tamil as a classical language would be issued by the Centre in two weeks.

He said the Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh had informed him of this yesterday.