Mekedatu issue: OPS demands Stalin to hold talks with his counterpart

CHENNAI: Expelled AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam on Monday hit out at Karnataka deputy chief minister D K Shivakumar for his statement that Mekedatu dam project has no harm to the riparian state, Tamil Nadu, said the remarks of neighbouring state deputy CM is strongly condemnable when the inter-state dispute is pending before the Supreme Court. He demanded Chief Minister M K Stalin to hold talk with his counterpart and ask him to drop the Mekedatu project.

Shivakumar has been speaking against the interest of Tamil Nadu and its people. He has been spreading misinformation regarding the inter-state water issues. He should refrain from making such sensitive statements when the issue is pending before the court, said OPS in a statement. It was a response to Shivakumar's Delhi press conference in which he stated that the Mekedatu dam project would not bring any harm to TN.

State WRO minister Duraimurugan brushed aside Shivakumar's statement that the officials in his government would have not briefed him regarding the Mekedatu issue, while the state leadership of the TNCC had declared that they would protest against the Karnataka government. Instead of holding talks with his party leaders in Karnataka to get the due share of water to TN, the TNCC had announced a protest. It amounts to cheating the people of TN, said Panneerselvam.

He continued in the vein and said whenever the DMK is in power, the neighbouring states take advantage in inter-state water disputes.