Concerned over the serious observations made against the State by the Supreme Court, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has called an all-party meet on Saturday to decide the next course of action in the water-sharing dispute with Tamil Nadu.

The Karnataka legislature had last week passed a unanimous resolution not to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu. Though Karnataka communicated this to the Supreme Court, the two-judge Bench asked the State release water to its neighbouring lower riparian State.

The resolution, adopted at a special session of both Houses of the State legislature on September 23, had expressed concern that only 27.6 tmc of water was left in the four reservoirs of the Cauvery basin – Krishna Raja Sagar, Kabini, Harangi and Hemavati.

“It is now resolved that in this state of acute distress, it is imperative that the government ensures that no water from the present storage be drawn, save and except for meeting drinking water requirements of the villages and towns in the Cauvery basin and for the entire city of Bengaluru,” resolution had said.

Following Friday’s directive, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has decided to elicit views of all parties and take them into confidence before charting next course of action.

Opposition parties in Karnataka were guarded in their reactions to latest Supreme Court directive to release 6,000 cusecs of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu from October 1 to 6.

Karnataka BJP President BS Yedurappa was not available for reactions, while former Prime Minister and JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda said the court directive was “tragic”. He felt the apex court could have waited till the State government’s Special Leave Petition (SLP) questioning Cauvery Tribunal order was heard by another bench of the Supreme Court.

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