Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah today charged his Tamil Nadu counterpart Jayalalithaa with politicising the Cauvery water dispute instead of sorting out the issue through mutual talks.
"The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister is politicising the Cauvery water dispute for political gains, instead of sorting it out through mutual talks," he told reporters after laying the foundation stone for the centenary building of Kannada Sahitya Parishat here.
Siddaramaiah assured farmers living in the Cauvery basin in the state, that the government would fight the issue both legally and politically.
He flayed Jayalalithaa for her attempts to 'pressurise' the central government to set up the Cauvery Management Board, in spite of the case pending in the Supreme Court.
"Civil appeals against the final order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal filed by Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala are pending in the Supreme Court. We are hopeful of getting justice," Siddaramaiah said.
He said he had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi and urged him not to constitute the Board.
The Karnataka Chief Minister also claimed the state has released 260 tmcft water, which was more than the stipulated 197 tmcft to Tamil Nadu as per the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal.
On June 13, Jayalalithaa had asserted it was mandatory for the Centre to establish the Cauvery Management Board to give effect to the Tribunal's final order.
In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, she had said the constitution of the Board was not optional, but an integral part of the final order itself, rebutting the statement of union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti, who had stated on June 12 that the proposal for setting up the Board was never there and there was no direction from the Supreme Court.
Tamil Nadu has already moved the Supreme Court praying for a direction to the Centre to set up CMB.
Jayalalithaa had described the memorandum submitted by Siddaramaiah to the PM on June 10 opposing constitution of CMB as "full of misleading statements and distorted facts.
