Law doesn’t allow Karnataka to build dam at Mekedatu, says Annamalai

Addressing the cadre during a hunger strike against Karnataka government on its adamancy to build a dam at Mekedatu, Annamalai said, the agriculture department was a failure till 2014 and too many farmers died of starvation during the Congress rule. The situation improved after Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister. No farmer died of starvation since he came to power, he said. “Tamil Nadu Chief Minister has made the ‘liquor’ Minister closer and Agriculture Minister farther and thus he has been conducting monthly review meetings on the sale target of Tasmac, but no scheme has been announced or introduced in support of farmers so far,” he charged. 

Stating that the agreement between the two states on the Cauvery issue was there for nearly 50 years since 1924, Annamalai said, after M Karunanidhi became Chief Minister in 1974, he did not renew the agreement and failed to publish in the government gazette and that is where the problem started. 

Later, he told reporters that a Karnataka MP questioned about the Mekedatu dam project in Parliament and Jal Sakthi Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat responded saying that the Union government would not permit it without clearance from Tamil Nadu. 

“This shows that the Mekedatu issue will come to an end soon,” Annamalai predicted. Earlier, he came to the hunger strike venue in a procession on a bullock cart from Rajarajan statue to Panagal building. 

Meanwhile, taking a dig at the BJP strike, VCK chief Thol Thirumavalavan in Ariyalur on Thursday said, “This is just ridiculous and the state BJP can meet Karnataka Chief Minister, their party colleague and urge them to withdraw the project. Without doing this, the Tamil Nadu BJP has been protesting. Is it not a mockery?” He also urged the state to build a manimandapam for Rajendra Cholan at Gangaikonda Cholapuram and celebrate his birth anniversary as a government function. 

Karnataka Chief Minister Basvaraj Bommai on Thursday asserted that there is no “compromise” on the Mekedatu project that the state wants to undertake across River Cauvery and accused neighbouring Tamil Nadu of opposing it for the sake of politics. “There is no compromise on the Mekedatu issue. In Tamil Nadu it is being used for politics, whichever party they may be from, they are opposing it for the sake of politics,” Bommai said. Speaking to reporters, the Karnataka CM said, “I’m confident that the DPR will be approved at the earliest, also we will get other clearances, and once we get it, it is certain that we will go ahead with the project. There is no compromise on this.”