Minister fails to convince farmers, protest on

Agriculture Minister R Doraikannu, Rajya Sabha MP R Vaithilingam and MLA M Rengasamy met the protesters and requested them to withdraw their stir as the Government has been doing its best to support their demands. 

During the talks, P Maniyarasan, the coordinator of the protest, reiterated the demand that the State Government oppose the bill and the Chief Minister release a statement that the Centre would give them an assurance about the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) and its award not coming under the purview of the Single Tribunal.

Doraikannu and Vaithilingam assured the protesters that the AIADMK MPs have been instructed to oppose the bill to amend the inter-state water disputes act. They also pointed out that the Government has been vigorously pursuing the case in the Supreme Court for constituting the Cauvery Management Board (CMB). They also assured them that the Chief Minister would be apprised of the demands of the protesters including filing a fresh contempt petition against the refusal of the Karnataka Government to obey the Supreme Court’s ruling of releasing 2,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu. 

P Maniyarasan, Convenor of the CRRC, made it clear that they would like the CM to issue a public statement opposing the creation of the Single Tribunal or demand exclusion of Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal from the bill’s purview. He accused the Centre of scheming against the interests of Tamil Nadu with an eye on the elections in Karnataka.

Later, talking to the media, Doraikannu said that 50 per cent of the demands of the protesters had already been met with the release of the crop insurance premium by the State Government. As per the main demand of CMB and the opposition to the Single Tribunal, this would be conveyed to the Chief Minister and the AIADMK MPs would oppose it in Parliament, he added.