CHENNAI: AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Tuesday announced that the party would hold agitation against the governments of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in the delta districts on October 6. Former AIADMK ministers R Kamaraj, O S Manian, C Vijayabaskar, R B Udayakumar and S Semmalai would lead the agitation in Thiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, Mayiladuthurai and Cuddalore districts respectively.
In a statement, the former chief minister said the Tamil Nadu government should have realized the flows legally and exerted ‘pressure politically’ in the months of May, June, July and August. Chief minister M K Stalin, who attended the swearing-in ceremony of Congress government in Karnataka in May, should have demanded that the entitled share for the months of May and June be released by the upper riparian state, Palaniswami said.
The DMK president could have laid down a condition that it would be part of the opposition alliance only if Karnataka released water, akin to the Aam Aadmi Party laying down the condition by keeping the welfare of its people in mind. “Stalin could have declared that people’s welfare was paramount and that he’s from the delta and avoided his participation in the INDIA bloc meeting in Bengaluru,” the AIADMK leader said. He alleged that the Tamil Nadu government had betrayed the interests of farmers by not insuring the kuruvai crop.
The AIADMK will hold agitation, also demanding the state government to extend compensation of Rs 35,000 per acre of dried crop in the delta.
