An all-party delegation from Tamil Nadu will meet Union jal shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in New Delhi on Friday to hand over a resolution against Karnataka’s Mekedatu dam project.
Tamil Nadu’s water resources minister Duraimurugan will lead the delegation days after chief minister M K Stalin held an all-party meeting on the issue on Monday. It was decided at the meeting to send the delegation to New Delhi to oppose the construction of the dam on the Cauvery river. Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have been involved in a Cauvery water sharing dispute for decades.
“Representatives from 13 political parties in the state have been invited to jointly hand over the resolutions passed at the meeting to the Union government,” said a ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader, who did not wish to be named.
Three resolutions were passed at the all-party meeting on Monday, urging the Union government against clearing the project. They cited the Supreme Court order (WHEN) barring any such projects without the approval of lower riparian states.
All regional parties and governments in Tamil Nadu have been opposed to the Mekedatu project. But ruling and opposition parties taking up such a matter together is rare in the state that has been known for adversarial politics involving DMK and opposition All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).
AIADMK leader D Jayakumar, who will be a part of the delegation, called Cauvery a lifeline for Tamil Nadu’s farmers. “We cannot give up the state’s rights over the issue and for that, we need to speak in one voice, so we are also going to Delhi.”
Shekhawat, who on Tuesday met Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa, assured that justice will be done to the state in all irrigation projects including the construction of the Mekedatu balancing reservoir-cum-drinking water project. Duraimurugan, who also met Shekhawat this month, said that the Union minister assured him that Mekedatu Dam will not be built without Tamil Nadu’s approval.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in power at the Centre and in Karnataka. The party’s Tamil Nadu unit has opposed the project.
Puducherry chief minister N Rangasamy said he would write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and urge him that the dam should not be built.
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