Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council, K.S. Eshwarappa, has said that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah should not release even a single drop of Cauvery waters to Tamil Nadu. Both the Supreme Court and the Cauvery Supervisory Committee have passed orders on release of Cauvery waters to Tamil Nadu without assessing the ground realities in Karnataka, Mr. Eshwarappa told presspersons here on Monday.
As the storage in reservoirs along the Cauvery and its tributaries in Karnataka are low this year, there will be acute shortage of water for agriculture and drinking needs in the Cauvery basin in the State. It is the right time for Mr. Siddaramaiah to take a bold decision to protect the interests of the people of Karnataka, he added. If Mr. Siddaramaiah is imprisoned for not releasing water to Tamil Nadu, the BJP leaders are also ready to go to jail with him. The people of Karnataka and the leaders of all political parties are with Mr. Siddaramaiah, he said.
Mr. Eshwarappa also slammed the Congress for demanding the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Cauvery row.
“It is apparent that the State government has failed to convince the Supreme Court on the ground situation in Karnataka. To hide the failure of the State government, Congress leaders are taking the name of Mr. Modi,” he said.
On the clean chit given by the Criminal Investigation Department to K.J. George in the case of alleged suicide committed by Deputy Superintendent of Police M.K. Ganapathy, Mr. Eshwarappa said that the State government had opted for a CID probe to protect Mr. George and senior police officers against whom charges of abetting the suicide were levelled.
The probe should be handed over to the Central Investigation Bureau to bring out the truth, he said.