Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami asserted in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Tuesday that his government would not allow Karnataka to build a dam across the Cauvery at Mekedatu.
In his reply to DMK’s deputy floor leader Duraimurugan in the House, Mr. Palaniswami pointed to the Supreme Court judgment in favour of Tamil Nadu in this regard. “They [officials of the Karnataka government] brought this issue in the [Cauvery Water] Management Authority on three, four occasions. It was dropped after we strongly opposed it,” the Chief Minister said, and pointed to the cases pending before the Supreme Court in this regard.
Earlier, Mr. Duraimurugan referred to a report published in The Hindu, which said a delegation of Karnataka Ministers was planning to call on the Prime Minister in Delhi to urge him to allow the construction of a dam across the Cauvery at Mekedatu.
The DMK leader urged Mr. Palaniswami either to take a team of leaders, including those from the Opposition, or lead a delegation to call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reiterate Tamil Nadu’s stand on the issue.
