Handlooms Minister and the ruling AIADMK’s Nagapattinam district secretary O.S. Manian on Wednesday said he was ready to take part in a debate with former Minister and DMK leader Duraimurugan on the Cauvery issue.
Mr. Manian faulted the DMK for “having let down” the State “on several occasions” on the issue. Pointing out that the Opposition party was in power at the Centre for most of the period between 1996 and 2013, he told The Hindu that the DMK, which had “extracted plum portfolios” when it was part of the Centre, did not bother to ask for the Union Water Resources Ministry even once.
Had its nominee been the Water Resources Minister back then, it could have achieved a lot with regard to the implementation mechanism for the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal’s awards.
Mr. Manian recalled that in the 1970s, when it was in power in the State, the DMK had “allowed” the Karnataka government to build dams across the Cauvery. “When such is the track record of the DMK, it is amazing that Mr. Duraimurugan has thrown a challenge at us, and I am willing to accept it,” he added.