We The Leaders organisation chief Annamalai has questioned the Union government over what he described as a sudden change in its position on building new structures across the Cauvery river.
In a statement, he referred to a reply given in the Rajya Sabha by the Union Ministry of Water Resources, which said the Supreme Court’s February 16, 2018 verdict on Cauvery water sharing does not state that Karnataka must obtain the consent of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry to create any new structure across the river.
Annamalai contrasted this with remarks made in Parliament on August 5, 2021 by then Union Water Resources Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. He said the minister had then indicated that permission given to Karnataka to prepare a detailed project report for a dam was conditional, and that under the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, downstream states—especially Tamil Nadu—must consent before such structures could be built.
Alleging that the Centre has now stepped back from its earlier stand while ignoring the rights and interests of Tamil Nadu’s farmers, Annamalai said this raises doubts about whether the shift is linked to electoral politics in Karnataka. He urged the Union government to act transparently and consistently, and to handle the Cauvery issue within the bounds of law and justice without harming relations between the two states.
