Cauvery needs political not legal solution, PM must intervene, says Karnataka's counsel

Congress leader and legal advisor to the Karnataka government Brijesh Kalappa on Tuesday said the Cauvery issue needs a political instead of a legal solution and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene.

"The Supreme Court is trying to find out a legal solution, but more than a legal solution, I think the people of both the states will be happier with a political solution. That's the reason we always had a executive as being a part of this solution finding process and that's the reason we had the CRA (Cauvery River Authority) earlier, where the Prime Minister was the head and we also had earlier to that where former PM P.V. Narsimha Rao had intervened,' he said.

Kalappa further said that the Prime Minister has not sought time to involve himself in the Cauvery issue nor is he ready the chief ministers of both states despite more than a year having been elapsed.

"We hope the Prime Minister finds the time and the inclination to deal with the issue," he said.

Earlier, the apex court, setting aside the Karnataka state assembly's resolution of not sharing water with Tamil Nadu, directed the former to comply with its earlier order of releasing 6,000 cusecs of Cauvery River water for the next three days i.e. till Friday.

The apex court also asked Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi to facilitate a meeting between the governments of the two states to find a solution to this long-standing problem by Friday.

In its plea, Karnataka had said its reservoirs are dry and it can only release water to Tamil Nadu by the end of the year.

While Karnataka sought modification of September 20 order of the apex court, its neighbour Tamil Nadu contested against modification.