Karnataka BJP MPs to meet Goa CM on Mahadayi river water row

BJP MP from Karnataka would meet Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parikkar to convince him on the need to attend talks to explore an out of court settlement to the inter-state Mahadayi river water dispute, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah today said.

Speaking to reporters here after a meeting of legislative floor leaders of parties, central ministers, MLAs, MPs and farmers organisations on the  Mahadayi issue, Siddaramaiah said he would also speak to the opposition Congress in Goa on the issue out of courtesy.

Goa had earlier expressed its opposition to out of court settlement of the dispute over sharing of the Mahadayi River waters with the lower riparian state of Karnataka.

The chief minister said all BJP MPs, including state party chief B S Yeddyurappa had decided to meet Parrikar after coming assembly byelections in Goa and convince him to attend the talks, Siddaramaiah said.

 "I will call a meeting to discuss the outcome of their (BJP) discussions with Parrikar, once it happens. I'm hopeful that they will be able to convince Parrikar," he said.

The meeting here was attended by Union Ministers Sadananda  Gowda and Ramesh Jigajinagi and Leader of Opposition in the assembly Jagadish Shettar, former Union Minister Veerappa Moily, several state Ministers, MLAs from all political parties and farmers' leaders from the region.

Pointing out that demands were also made in the meeting to lead a delegation to the Prime Minister seeking his intervention on the issue, Siddaramaiah said a call on this would be taken based on the outcome of BJP's meeting with the Goa Chief Minister.

The Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal had last September had asked the states concerned, including Maharashtra, to resolve the water  dispute amicably by holding discussions.

The Chief Minister also said that the Goa Chief Secretary has written to Karnataka Chief Secretary about their inability to attend the meeting till the end of August citing by-polls as the reason.

"They have said that it is not advisable to hold the meeting between Chief Ministers of Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra till the end of this month on account of  by-elections in Goa and prevalent model code of conduct in the  state," Siddaramaiah said quoting from the letter.

The letter was in response to Siddaramaiah's recent missive to his Maharashtra and Goa counterparts for organising a meeting of the three Chief Ministers.

It was second such attempt to bring the Chief Ministers of the three riparian states to the table for discussion. The first similar meeting in October last year did not succeed.

Stating that Leader of Opposition in the Legislative  Council K S Eshwarappa advised him to speak to Congress  leaders in Goa, Siddaramaiah said though a Chief Minister would always speak to his counterpart or an elected government and not with the opposition, he had still said he would talk with them (Congress).

"I will speak, but it is not a condition precedent and  will be out of courtesy," he added.

The Karnataka government had earlier petitioned the tribunal seeking the release of 7.56 tmcft of water for  the Kalasa-Banduri Nala project, but it was rejected in an interim order on July 27, resulting in violent protests in  North Karnataka.

The project was being undertaken to improve drinking water supply to the twin cities  of Hubballi-Dharwad and the districts of Belagavi and Gadag.