H D Deve Gowda asks Karnataka government to oppose Cauvery Board

BENGALURU: JD(S) supremo and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda on Monday urged the state government to consult legal experts and take measures to stop formation of the Cauvery management board.Speaking to mediapersons, Gowda termed the Supreme Court verdict as an injustice to Karnataka. “We should have got 40tmcft water, but we got only 14 tmcft of additional allocation.

What is there to celebrate by distributing sweets?” he asked. Gowda said the board’s formation is not in the interest of the state and the government should initiate measures to protect the state’s interests.
The apex court has given six weeks’ time to the Centre to constitute a board or an authority for implementation of the verdict on allocation of water to the states.

Deve Gowda said Tamil Nadu is already discussing possibility of filing a review petition challenging the SC verdict, but the national parties in Karnataka are busy trading charges over whether it is “10 per cent government or 90 per cent government”.Gowda, however, refused to give any suggestion to the government on the strategy it needs to adopt in the case. “I will reveal it at an appropriate time,” he said.

On Women’s Reservation Bill
Deve Gowda sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention for early passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill that envisages 35 per cent reservation for women in the state assemblies and the Parliament. “As a Chief Minister of Karnataka in 1995, I had implemented women’s reservation in local bodies as well as in government jobs. The need of the hour is for introspection and a change in our mindset,” Gowda stated in a letter to the PM.