BJP MP Lehar Singh urges Karnataka, Tamil Nadu to resolve Cauvery issue through dialogue

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], September 28 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Lehar Singh Siroya on Wednesday urged the governments of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to meet and steer the discussion on the ongoing Cauvery water-sharing dispute. 

“I feel this water issue (Cauvery River) is an emotional issue for everybody. Two governments must sit together earnestly without politics and then they can sort out the matter. I request all the parties of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka not to do politics now,” the BJP MP said. 

“Both the governments should talk to each other with their expert committee members and officers,” he added. 

On Wednesday the BJP Rajya Sabha MP was in Chennai in an attempt to meet Chief Minister MK Stalin on the issue.  

In a letter writtent to both Chief Ministers Lehar Singh urged the Chief Ministers to sit together and resolove the issue through dialogue.

“We should at least break the old cycle of seeing the sharing of Cauvery Riover water as a regional conflict and a major dispute. This conflicting approach has been prevalenet for decase. Instead it is best to view it as a humanitarian crisis to be addressed maturely by two state governments” his letter stated. 

“I once again urge the two Chief ministers to meet at the earliest and steer the discussion” he added in the letter.

Earlier on Wednesday, former CM BS Yediyurappa along with other leaders and workers of the BJP staged a sit-in against the Karnataka government over the Cauvery water-sharing issue near the Gandhi statue in Bengaluru. JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy also joined the protest.

Farmers across Karnataka have been protesting since the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) ordered the state to release 3000 cusecs of water to its neighbouring state Tamil Nadu, up to October 15, 2023.

The amount of water to be released was earlier 5000 cusecs. In its 87th meeting of CWRC held in New Delhi  Karnataka and Tamil Nadu made their submissions before the committee.

The submission made by Karnataka stated that the shortfall in cumulative inflows to the state’s four reservoirs up to September 25 was 53.04 per cent.

The governments of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have been locked in a protracted tussle over the sharing of Cauvery waters. The river is seen as a major source of sustenance for the people in either state.

The Centre formed the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) on June 2, 1990, to adjudicate disputes between Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, and Puducherry with respect to their individual water-sharing capacities.